3 drown in Southeast Missouri in three days

Swimming and boating accidents claimed the lives of three people over the last week in Southeast Missouri.

Shut-Ins drowning

A 19-year-old Farmington, Missouri, man drowned Sunday while attempting to swim across the Black River in Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park in Reynolds County.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, at about 6:45 p.m., Christopher C. Watson submerged while swimming and did not resurface.

Watson was pronounced dead at 8:45 p.m. by Reynolds County Coroner Jeff McSpadden.

Black River drowning

A Qulin, Missouri, man apparently drowned after being ejected from his boat during a family fishing trip Tuesday morning on the Black River in Wayne County.

At about 9:35 a.m., Kenneth B. Vancil, 70, was operating a 1993 Bass Tracker jet boat on the river, about three miles west of Williamsville, Missouri, Missouri State Highway Patrol Cpl. J.T. Wilson said.

Vancil had his 12-year-old grandson Ben in the boat, and they had just put in to fish, Wilson said. Vancil's son Boyd was going with them in a canoe and was preparing to launch the canoe when it happened, he said.

"(The elder Vancil) was trying to pull up into a slough," Wilson said. "I think rocks got caught up in his jet, and he was unable to move forward.

"Basically, the current took him downstream. Then, he struck a root wad, ejecting both him and the boy."

Wilson said the boat bounced off the root wad, and the boy was able to get back in the boat, but Kenneth Vancil was not.

The current carried Vancil, who was wearing a life jacket, and the boat downstream, Wilson said.

Vancil's son found and recovered his father, who was floating face down, about a mile downstream, Wilson said. Recovery was made off County Road 424, he said.

Vancil was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:09 a.m. by Wayne County Sheriff Dean Finch.

Jacks Fork drowning

Later on Tuesday, a 13-year-old Montgomery, Illinois, boy died in a canoeing accident on the Jacks Fork River, just south of Eminence, Missouri, in Shannon County.

At about 3:15 p.m., the highway patrol reported Justin D. Persons was canoeing in the Shawnee Creek area of the river with his father when their canoe capsized.

The teen reportedly became lodged under a fallen tree.

"A bystander is who got him loose; his life jacket became hung on the root wad under the water," trooper R.B. Arnold said. "They actually had to cut the life jacket."

A park ranger was there within moments and began CPR, Arnold said.

Persons was pronounced dead at 4:35 p.m. by Shannon County Coroner Tim Denton.

Boating injury

Vancil's water-related accident was the second Tuesday morning in Wayne County.

At about 8:15 a.m., a Herrin, Illinois, teenager was injured in a canoe accident on the St. Francis River, about two miles north of the Highway 34 bridge.

Harley D. Konkel, 14, was among a group of Boy Scouts who were "trying to get through a little tricky area in their canoes," Wilson said. Boy Scout Camp Lewallen is in Wayne County.

Konkel's canoe tipped, and he got out and was "kind of holding his canoe there" when "the second canoe came behind him and wedged him between the two vessels," Wilson said.

The teen was in a lot of pain, having suffered some broken ribs, and was taken by ambulance to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center, where he was admitted, he said.