Two die when Jeep plunges into lake

Keith Paul

Monday, Aug. 14, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

A man and a child were killed early this morning after their Jeep plummeted down a 40-foot embankment and submerged upside down in Lake Mead.

Another child, a 4-year-old boy in the Jeep, escaped serious injury when he was thrown from the vehicle.

The driver of the Jeep was reportedly trying to tow another car that was stuck in a primitive camping area off Northshore Road near mile marker 8 in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

The Jeep crashed down the cliff and into Lake Mead about 12:15 a.m., National Park Service officials said.

The names of the man driving the Jeep and the child who died were not released this morning pending the notification of their family. The child who survived the accident was released to the care of the mother, officials said.

The accident is still under investigation.

The Lake Mead recreation area encompasses 200,000 acres of surface water on lakes Mead and Mohave and 1.3 million acres of land that includes almost 1,000 miles of shoreline.

It attracts about 10 million visitors annually -- half of whom are locals -- making it the fourth-most visited park in the nation's system.

In June the Wall Street Journal released its rankings of incidents at national parks with Lake Mead recreation area topping the list.

The newspaper's ranking had Lake Mead with more search and rescues and serious crimes per 100,000 visitors last year than any of the other 46 national recreation areas. The paper reported there were 540 search and rescues and 732 serious crimes.

Lake Mead officials said at the time most of the crimes were thefts, burglaries and vandalism to park property and not violent crimes against people in the park.

Officials also said they don't wait 24 hours to send out a rescue party. Rescuers go out when there is a report of someone missing or in danger.

Often, rescuers determine the person just wandered off and had returned.