Four people are missing and nine people are injured, two critically, after two private boats collided on the Colorado River in southeast California on Saturday night. Sixteen people in total were involved in the crash. Two people were airlifted to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada with life-threatening injuries, the Mohave County Sheriff said in a press conference on Sunday evening. Water and shoreline searches continue in addition to dive operations, with a search area an estimated 2 miles in circumference. The sheriff's office added that no one on either boat was wearing a life jacket. The two vessels collided head on at about 8 p.m. local time between Pirate Cove and the Topock Marina, north of Lake Havasu near the Moabi Regional Park, a recreational area on the Colorado River which forms the boundary between California and Arizona. The southern tip of Nevada is about 30 miles north of the park. During the collision, everyone from both boats was thrown into the water, and both boats sank. Several people were pulled from the water by other passing boaters. Officials called off the search for missing survivors around 9 p.m. last night. Dive and search operations in the area of the crash are being conducted by the Mohave County Sheriff's Office with the assistance of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. The accident happened after sunset, making rescue efforts difficult, authorities said. Some people were found as much as a mile down river due to the rapidly moving water. Officials are unsure if alcohol was involved, or the ages or genders of those who were injured.<doc-sep>A night on the Colorado River turned tragic when two boats crashed and sank, casting 16 passengers into the rushing water. Four people — three women and one man — were still missing, officials said. The collision occurred about 8 p.m. Saturday between Pirates Cove and the Topock Marina near Moabi Regional Park on the California-Arizona border, authorities said. Search-and-rescue divers were in the water searching for bodies. “I don’t want to give the interpretation that there isn’t a real possibility that they made it to shore,” Mohave County Sheriff Doug Schuster said at an afternoon news briefing. “We are actively treating this as a potential drowning.” The river was packed with holiday visitors at the time of the incident. Those aboard the boats were friends and family, some visiting from outside the area. None of them were wearing life jackets, officials said. Advertisement “It is not mandated that they do, though we encourage it,” Schuster said. It was not clear yet whether alcohol or speeding played a role in the crash, authorities said. The accident occurred just after sunset and low light conditions probably played a role. The Hallett boat carrying 10 people was headed northbound when it collided head-on with a southbound Sleekcraft boat carrying six people, authorities said. Four passengers from the Hallett boat were missing. Two people in critical condition were flown to a hospital in Las Vegas, authorities said. Nine others were taken to hospitals by ambulance. Authorities said no children were on board. “The two boats hit head on at about 50 mph,” knocking more than a dozen people into the water, according to an emergency dispatcher whose report was broadcast on local TV stations. Both boats sank and several people were pulled from the water by passing boaters. Eric Sherwin, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Fire District, told 3TV/CBS-5 that the river moves fast and can reach depths of up to 30 feet. “We had victims of this collision that were located three to five miles downstream from the original point of impact,” Sherwin said. Advertisement Saturday night, helicopters from Care Flight, the Arizona Department of Public Safety Air Rescue and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department were deployed to the river. The search was called off about 10 p.m. before resuming again early Sunday. Schuster said officials would keep searching the water each day until dark. “We will continue to search until all those who are missing and unaccounted for have been located,” he said. A stretch of the river may be closed intermittently during the recovery effort. Advertisement Investigators at the scene Sunday of a boating accident the night before on the Colorado River north of Lake Havasu. (Mohave County Sheriff’s Office) Four people are still missing after two boats collided on the Colorado River on Saturday. (Los Angeles Times) esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com @LATBermudez Advertisement UPDATES: 5:50 p.m.: This article was updated with more information from the Mohave County Sheriff’s Department. 4:35 p.m.: This article was updated with new information from the Mohave County Sheriff’s Department. This article was originally posted at 12:30 p.m.<doc-sep>
Divers returned to the roaring Colorado River on Sunday in search of four people missing and presumed dead after a head-on boat crash along the California-Arizona border that injured nine people, two critically. The recreational boats — one carrying 10 people and another with six people on board— collided Saturday in Moabi Regional Park as darkness was falling on a rushing river crowded with holiday weekend boaters, making the rescue operation difficult. The search for two people "presumed submerged" was halted overnight, the San Bernardino County Fire District said in a statement. The search resumed Sunday, but authorities said the toll of missing had risen. Four people are still missing, three women and one man, according to Mohave County Sheriff Doug Schuster. Each boat had a mix of family and friends who were from out of the area. The search operation has shut down a two-mile area of the river, Schuster said. "Top water and shoreline searches have been conducted and continue to be conducted this point, in addition to dive operations that have been underway for several hours," he told reporters during a Sunday afternoon press conference. "These efforts will continue until all of those missing and unaccounted for have been located." No one on the boats was wearing a life vest, Schuster said. More:Duck boat survivor lost family: 'My house is now haunted by silence' More:Family files $100M wrongful death suit in Branson duck boat accident One person suffered life-threatening injuries and was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Las Vegas, about 120 miles north of the crash scene, fire district spokesman Eric Sherwin told USA TODAY. The crash was so violent that one of the boats sank and the other sustained major damage, fire officials said. Some of the people on board were thrown into the river while others jumped, Sherwin said. “We had victims of this collision that were located 3 to 5 miles downstream from the original point of impact,” Sherwin said. Sonar images of the sunken boat indicated that none of the missing people were on board, he said. The water ranged in depth from very shallow to 30 feet, he said. Contributing: Jennifer Walter, Marshfield News-Herald; The Associated Press