4 dead, 3 hospitalized after boat capsizes on Utah lake

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A ski boat capsized amid violent winds and huge waves on a lake spanning the Utah-Idaho border, killing four people and leaving three hospitalized, a Utah sheriff said today.

All seven people in the boat — two adults, four teenage girls and a 7-year-old girl — were thrown into the chilly water when it overturned Monday on Bear Lake, about 120 miles north of Salt Lake City.

They were in the water for at least two hours as rescuers tried to find them amid waves that reached 10 feet and frothed in the wind, said Mike Wahlberg, fire chief in nearby Garden City, Utah, who helped with the rescue efforts.

The water was about 53 degrees Fahrenheit.

"If you're in that water, you could be dead within an hour, half an hour even," Wahlberg said. "It's a bad deal for you, and it can be hard to survive."

One of the adults, a man, died at the scene. Three of the girls were flown to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, where they died later.

The other two children and a woman remain hospitalized in the northern Utah city of Logan, Rich County Sheriff Dale Stacey said in a statement.