The Daily Caller logo
US

At Least One Dead After Double-Decker Party Boat Capsized, Authorities Say

The Conroe Queen Capsized

(Screenshot/Twitter/Public — User: @RoxieABC13)

Bradley Devlin General Assignment & Analysis Reporter
Font Size:

Authorities announced that one person has died after a double-deck party boat capsized Saturday night on Lake Conroe in Texas.

The Lake Conroe Queen, a reproduction of an 1860s double-deck sternwheeler paddleboat that can carry up to 60-passengers, capsized due to a thunderstorm that caused high winds and waves, KTRK reported. The boat was carrying more than 50 passengers when it flipped over at around 8 p.m. Saturday, about 40 minutes into the 90-minute trip, according to KPRC-TV. After it crashed, locals came to the passengers’ aide and saved lives, authorities said.

In total, The Conroe Lake Queen had 53 people aboard when it capsized Saturday, all of whom have since been accounted for, Montgomery County Precinct 1 Constable’s Office Capt. Joseph Sclider told KHOU. However, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department confirmed that one individual in the crash had died, but provided no other details Sunday morning, Fox News reported. Sclider also said that three individuals were taken to the hospital Saturday night, including a man who was suffering a cardiac-related issue, a woman who was “having a panic attack” and her husband, KHOU reported.

Subsequent reporting from KHOU revealed that 80-year-old Karl Kazenberg died at the hospital after the crash.

Locals at a nearby apartment building saw The Conroe Queen capsize and reportedly rushed to help rescue people from the water before first responders arrived. “I think the community coming together before the cops got here really saved a lot of people,” local resident Brock O’Rourke told reporters, according to Fox News.

“It was a nice day. It was pretty calm. All of a sudden, the winds started picking up,” O’Rourke claimed. “Within about five minutes, I think the water was crashing over on the inside and we saw it started tipping a bit. So we decided to walk down here to see if anyone might need some help. By the time we got down here, the boat pretty much capsized and everybody was floating in the water,” he went on to say, according to Fox News.

Other witnesses claimed that four children, including an 18-month-old, were rescued from the capsized boat. Sclider confirmed that children were rescued from The Lake Conroe Queen, but did not divulge how many children were rescued, or their ages. Video footage from the aftermath of the crash showed children accompanying families being bussed back to their vehicles by law enforcement after they were rescued, Fox News reported. (RELATED: Fiery Boat Explosion Leaves 6 Injured On Docks Of Lake Lanier)

“This is the first major catastrophe we’ve had of this size. Luckily, it happened real close to shore,” Montgomery County Pct. 1 Constable’s Office Chief Don Fullen told reporters. “People here at the boat dock and living here in Regency Point were already starting to do rescues when emergency personnel started arriving. So that was saving grace for some of these people.”

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters ✔ ✔ ✔
Daily Caller Shows ✔ ✔ ✔
Ad Free Experience ✔ ✔ ✔
Exclusive Articles ✔ ✔ ✔
Custom Newsletters ✔ ✔ ✔
Editor Daily Rundown ✔ ✔ ✔
Behind The Scenes Coverage ✔ ✔
Award Winning Documentaries ✔ ✔
Patriot War Room ✔ ✔
Patriot Live Chat ✔ ✔
Exclusive Events ✔
Gold Membership Card ✔
Tucker Mug ✔

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel

Terms of Use and Cancellation Policy

Internal promotions, affiliate content, recommended content and spam will be embedded in their paid content and players may still be included on the site.