Teen dies, amputee survives, when storm washes six overboard

MONCKS CORNER — A double amputee made it to shore, while a young man two days short of his 20th birthday drowned, when a sudden storm on Lake Moultrie washed six people overboard Sunday afternoon.

Robert Northen Daniels, 19, of Ladson didn’t make it, Berkeley County Coroner Bill Salisbury said. Salisbury noted that Daniels would have been 20 years old Tuesday.

The five others were identified only as family and friends from the Ladson and Summerville areas.

According to Salisbury, who also is chief of the Berkeley County Rescue Squad, rescue workers received a call about 12:55 p.m. that a boat was taking on water.

They found a 22-foot Hurricane Fun Deck floating in the water, heavily listing to one side.

Five people had made it to some rocks near the Pinopolis Dam about 100 yards away. Rescue workers took them back to shore and recovered Daniels’ body.

The pontoon-type deck boat was anchored and the occupants fishing when a sudden storm came up, Salisbury said.

The boat started filling with water and the occupants couldn’t free the anchor; the 200-horsepower engine stalled, and waves washed the passengers into the lake.

The man with no legs grabbed a life jacket, and his wife pulled him to the rocks, Salisbury said.

S.C. Department of Natural Resources officers took the boat to Atkins Landing, where it was pulled out of the water.

DNR and the coroner’s office are investigating.

Reach Dave Munday at 937-5553 or twitter.com/dmunday.