LOST BRIDGE - Explosions rocked the campground at Lost Bridge on Beaver Lake Friday afternoon destroying the quiet of the beginning of Memorial Day weekend a little after 1 p.m., according to campers Karen and Dale LaBrue of Dennison, Texas.
As a result of the explosions, a young woman died.
The woman, Kayla Woolsey, 23, of Hollister, Mo., was standing on the barge, just a few yards away from the LaBrues’ campsite. She was apparently thrown from the barge on which she was standing, according to Kesha Guyll, public information officer for the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.
Woolsey was pronounced dead at the scene by Benton County Coroner Daniel Oxford. Miss Woolsey was with her step-father who was welding on the barge.
The barge was on a trailer behind a truck labeled with a sign for L&H Dock Service.
“They were apparently unloading and working on docks,” Deputy Guyll said. “He started welding on the barge when, we’re pretty sure, a spark ignited fumes causing two explosions. She was thrown from the barge.”
“We had just pulled in when we heard the explosions,” Karen La-Brue said. “It was awful. He (her husband) had seen they were arc welding.”
Campers Adam and Kelly Lukens from Wichita, Kansas, said they were just pulling into their campsite when they heard the explosions and felt the ground shake.
“I’m an RN (registered nurse),” Kelly Lukens said, “so I ran down to help and realized there was nothing I could do.”
For two hours, deputies enforced a strict perimeter keeping people away in case of another explosion. By about 3:30 p.m., they had erected a wall of blue tarps around the body beside the barge. Guyll said that by about 5 p.m., people were allowed to retrieve their vehicles parked close to where the barge was.
Firefighters from Northeast Benton County Fire/EMS Department were dispatched to a “boat fire” about 1:15 p.m. and later informed by Benton County Central Communications that there was one patient with a possible head injury, according to NEBCO Fire Capt. Nick Mason.
“We had a fully involved boat fire,” Mason said, adding that the barge was still on a trailer on land behind a truck. The NEBCO boat arrived on the scene to provide water, then remained on the scene to keep a perimeter on the lake side.
Joshua Stoll of Siloam Springs had been kayaking about a mileout in the lake from the site when heard the explosion, he said. “I heard it, started coming in, then saw black smoke billowing up. As I came in, I realized it was a vehicle on fire.”
Stoll’s Jeep was parkednear the Dock Service truck and he could not get to it until late in the afternoon.
Emergency personnel from Benton County Sheriff’s Office, Arkansas Game and Fish, the U.S. ArmyCorps of Engineers and NEBCO were on the scene for several hours. Robert McGowen with the Benton County Department of Emergency Management arrived to check for any hazardous spills.
News, Pages 1 on 05/29/2013