Guthrie Authorities Recover Bodies Of 3 Missing Boaters

Authorities near Guthrie have recovered the bodies of three men after an airboat accident on Guthrie’s Country Club Lake. 

The men were taking the airboat out for the first time. The owner had bought the boat the day before. 

The manager for the country club said he knew something bad had happened when the lake went silent. 

"Deafening quiet. For a couple seconds," Davis said. "You couldn't see exactly what was going on, but you could tell something had happened." 

Davis said he and an employee attempted to get out to the middle of the lake in a small boat to see what happened. 

"He went and grabbed a trolly motor, and a battery and we tried to attach it to an aluminum boat and get him out there while I was on the phone with 911. We couldn't tell exactly how many there were at first," said Davis. 

But the wind was too much for the aluminum boat, and they had to wait for EMS. 

"What else can you do? You just kind of stand there helpless and watch a boat try to get out there to them in the wind. It felt like eternity," Davis explained. 

Oklahoma Highway Patrol divers were called around 1:30 p.m. The boat submerged by the time they arrived. 

"Try to understand where a boat may have gone in, we have to try to understand how many people may have been on a boat. Especially if it's out in the middle of the water we need assets there to get out on the water," explained Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper, Eric Foster. 

The rescue tragically turned to a recovery mission. OHP divers used a type of sonar to find the three men's bodies. Their names still haven't been released. 

OHP divers recovered the airboat from the lake Wednesday, it will help police complete the puzzle of what exactly happened on the lake. It's still not clear if they crashed, sunk, or capsized.  

"The watercraft will show us if something was struck. The watercraft will show us if something on the watercraft itself failed," said Trooper Foster. 

Davis said he knew one of the men, through the country club. 

"One of the gentlemen was actually out here quite frequently himself fishing. He as an avid fisherman and you wouldn't' be surprised to see him out here three or four days a week fishing," Davis said. 

A vigil for the three men and a 4th unrelated Guthrie death was held Wednesday at Mineral Wells Park.