3-year-old drowns in Lake Powell, officials say


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BULLFROG, Kane County — A 3-year-old child died after he fell off the upper deck of a houseboat in Lake Powell and landed in a 5-foot section of water last week, authorities said Wednesday.

Jayden Cooper Vokas, of Park City, was pronounced dead at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, according to the National Park Service and Kane County sheriff’s officials. Authorities were alerted about 3:30 p.m. Friday that a 3-year-old boy had died and was being transported to Halls Crossing Launch Ramp.

Officials said seven adults and one other child were on a houseboat located at Willow Creek Canyon, which is about 34 miles south of the Halls Crossing Marina. They said the child was sleeping on the upper deck of the houseboat and fell overboard at some point Thursday night or Friday morning, authorities said.

The boy was not wearing a life jacket when he fell into the water.

The incident remains under investigation. National Park Service officials said the Kane County Sheriff’s Office is handling the investigation, with assistance from the park service and San Juan County Sheriff’s Office.

The incident also happened less than a week after a Colorado man fell overboard into Lake Powell about 15 miles south of Bullfrog on Sept. 22. Officials said Daniel Patrick McGuckin, 41, of Avon, Colorado, was presumed drowned afterward. His body has not yet been recovered.

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Carter Williams is an award-winning reporter who covers general news, outdoors, history and sports for KSL.com.

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