Six dead, two missing after boat flips in Lake Tahoe

The U.S. Coast Guard’s Lake Tahoe station on Sunday called off a search for two adults who were still missing after a boat carrying 10 people capsized in the lake the prior afternoon. First responders pulled two survivors from the water on Saturday and pronounced six others dead, according to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office.

The boaters were aboard a 27-foot gold-tone Chris-Craft vessel when it flipped over at the southern end of the lake, which sits on the border between California and Nevada. The two survivors were brought to a nearby hospital for treatment, according to the Coast Guard.

Why did the boat capsize? A large swell may have pushed the boat over. Wave heights at the time reached 8 feet, stirred up by a 30-knot wind, according to the Coast Guard. The weather turned sour around the time of the disaster, just before 3 p.m. Saturday, with temperatures plunging to about 45 degrees, with rain and mist reported in the area, according to WeatherSpark.

Dig deeper: Read my report on the huge heat wave hitting the northeastern United States.