The Missouri State Highway Patrol, which works boating as well as traffic crashes in the state, has already seen four deaths on the water in one area district.
Troop G, which covers nine counties in south central Missouri including Douglas and Ozark, reported the latest incident over the weekend. According to the online report posted by the patrol, the latest drowning occurred on Sunday morning on the North Fork of the White River in Ozark County when 71-year-old Richard Braisington of St. Louis went under while he had been fishing. The report indicated he had been wading in the river before going under. He was found and pronounced dead later in the afternoon.
The the other fatalities in Troop G involved vehicles being swept off a road. One death occurred in February when a person drowned trying to help occupants of a vehicle caught in the water while the other two occurred in March when occupants of a vehicle were trapped as the vehicle was swept off a low water crossing.
Troop G had reported no deaths on the water during the same time period in 2022.
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