PAGE, Ariz. — A group spending Memorial Day boating on Lake Powell in Arizona witnessed something few ever see or are able to catch on video.

Mila Carter was heading towards Antelope Point Marina with family and friends Monday when she noticed a few rocks falling along a nearby cliff next to the lake.

"It kind of didn't stop and we could tell that more was coming, so we stopped and I kind of just pulled out my phone just in time," said Carter.

What happened next left them stunned, amazed and every other adjective in the dictionary.

Steve Carter

"Pretty incredible," explained Carter. "Saw something like I had never seen before."

Within seconds after Carter pulled out her phone, an entire section of the cliff broke free and crashed into the water. The massive rock slide caused a large splash followed by a wave heading in the direction of the boat.

"I feel like the video didn't do that big tidal wave justice," said Carter. "It was huge."

Raw video below shows rock slide crash into Lake Powell

Raw video of Lake Powell rock slide

Seeing the wave crash near them, Carter's husband sped up when realizing they needed to quickly get out of the way.

"There was still the aftermath of the big rockfall that we need to make sure and be clear from," Carter said.

When spending a holiday on Lake Powell, boaters usually expect a day full of sun and fun. But never in their wildest dreams did Carter and her family expect to see a rock slide literally rock their world.

"We try to be safe and stay clear of things like that, but it definitely isn't something that I was really concerned about. Not every time I'm by a big cliff or rock do I worry that it's going to fall on me."

Steve Carter

The entire experience took just seconds, but was something Carter said she her group will remember for a lifetime.

"It was definitely surprising and shocking and kind of a little bit of a wake up call to watch out for everything!"

Steve Carter

This story was first reported by Jeff Tavss at KSTU in Salt Lake City.

LAS VEGAS — Another object has been discovered as the waters in Lake Mead continue to shrink.

The Associated Press reported that a World War II-era landing craft appeared last week after it previously sat 185 feet below the surface.

The news outlet reported that it now sits sideways a mile from Lake Mead Marina and Hemingway Harbor.

Dive tours company Las Vegas Scuba said the boat surveyed the Colorado River decades ago but was sold to the marina and then sunk, the AP reported.

The Higgins landing craft is the latest discovery as water levels dwindle.

Two sets of human remains were found in the lake two months in the same week, Scripps sister station KTNV reported.

The AP reported that experts say water levels are dropping due to climate change and drought.

A Brazilian fisherman is thanking a floating freezer for saving his life.

Romualdo Macedo Rodrigues says he's lucky to be alive after he spent 11 days alone at sea floating inside a cooler after his boat sank off the coast of Brazil, Record TV reported.

Rodrigues told the news outlet that he set out for a 3-day fishing trip last month when he noticed his boat was sinking.

As the vessel went down, he saw the freezer and jumped inside it, the news outlet reported.

For 11 days, Rodrigues, who doesn't know how to swim, floated alone in the Atlantic Ocean without food or water.

He told the news outlet that sharks surrounded the freezer, and water began seeping into the cooler, but he never gave up hope that he would be rescued.

According to Record TV, on the 11th day, he heard a boat, so he stuck his arms so they could see him.

The news outlet reported that a group of fishermen found him off the coast of Suriname.

The media outlet reported that he was treated at a hospital and detained by officials for a few days because he didn't have the proper documentation.

But he was later released and has since returned home to be with his family, Return TV reported.

RYE, N.H. —

After 462 days at sea, a mini boat launched by fifth- and sixth-grade students in Rye, New Hampshire, has been recovered in Norway.

The boat was created by Rye Junior High School students and launched in October 2020 as part of a lesson about the Gulf Stream, wind and waves.

The students, part of the group Educational Passages, named their creation the "Rye Riptides Mini Boat."

On Sunday, the onboard GPS pinged on an island off the coast of Norway, but the mini boat wasn't always easy to track.

"The GPS stopped reporting back in September and everyday since I have been checking, as have the students, and then suddenly on Monday, Jan. 31 a location popped up after four months of quiet," said Educational Passages Executive Director Cassie Stymiest.

The mini boat was found on an uninhabited island near Somola, Norway. A post was made in a Norway community Facebook group and a family found it and retrieved it.

The boat was taken to a local school in Norway, where students opened it up to find all of the notes and trinkets in perfect condition inside.

Former Rye Junior High teacher Sheila Adams said some of the items the students included were a facemask signed by the students, autumn leaves, and coins.

Adams recently retired before the boat was found.

"There was one piece missing when I retired and that was the conclusion of the boat, so now I am all set," Adams said.

On Thursday, students at Rye Junior High School will meet their counterparts in Norway through a virtual discussion.

LAKE WORTH, Fla. —

Ryan Batchelder’s mother describes him as "just sunshine."

"And very funny," Meg Batchelder said. "Everyone liked to be around him. He just had charisma. He had the 'it' factor."

In July of 2014, the entire Batchelder family traveled from their home in Lake Worth, Florida, to Lake Burton, Georgia, for a vacation.

Much of the family was out on a boat with Ryan sitting near the front. The front of the boat dipped below the water, sweeping Ryan away and into the propeller.

He was only 7 years old.

"My other son, he was 9 at the time, he was screaming, 'My brother's dead! My brother's dead!'" Batchelder said. "I was like, 'No, this can’t be.'"

The Batchelders filed a civil suit against the boat company, Malibu Boats, claiming the boat was not properly weighted, causing the bow to dip underwater.

On Saturday, the jury in Georgia returned its monumental verdict, saying Malibu Boats is liable for Ryan's death. They awarded the Batchelders $200 million in damages.

"I was very overwhelmed when I heard the verdict," Batchelder said. "I was just stunned and shocked."

Don Fountain, the Batchelder's attorney, added, "I think the jury’s verdict sends a loud and clear message to Malibu and the entire industry. And it speaks in the terms they understand: dollars and cents."

Malibu Boats did not respond to a request for comment on the verdict, but Fountain said he expects them to appeal the verdict.

While she's waiting for the next step in this long process, Batchelder said she will continue to work with Little Hugs, the foundation she created in Ryan's honor. The foundation provides stuffed animals for children in need.

"He loved stuff animals," Batchelder said of Ryan. "He had a wish, he had told me, to be Santa Claus and to have a million stuffed animals."

Batchelder said she can only imagine the good she could do if she ever saw any of the money from the verdict. But she also said this case was never about the dollars.

Both she and Fountain agree this is about responsibility.

"They need to do better. They need to be safer," Fountain said of boat companies. "And we hope that message will be heard loud and clear around the world."

Batchedler added, "I want to take it to the end. They need to be held accountable, and we need to make sure this doesn’t happen again."

It’s become a race against time in the search for 12 missing people from an oil industry platform ship that capsized in the Gulf of Mexico.

Coast Guard divers hope a break in stormy weather will give them an opportunity to reach the overturned ship's hull.

The Coast Guard said before dawn Thursday that they're still trying to work out how to get inside the vessel. Six people were rescued alive and one body was found floating on the water in the continuing search.

One person is dead, six people were rescued and a search for 12 others continues after a commercial boat capsized Tuesday off Louisiana's Port Fourchon in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the U.S. Coast Guard and parish officials.

Despite bad weather conditions, which included 6-to 8-foot waves, the search continued Wednesday.

Coast Guard rescue crews have searched more than 1,440 square miles, which is an area larger than the state of Rhode Island, during a combined search period of nearly 40 hours.

“Our rescue crews have been diligently continuing the search and rescue efforts for the missing people from the capsized vessel,” said Capt. Will Watson, commander of Coast Guard Sector New Orleans. “When it comes to search and rescue, each case is dynamic and no single case is the same as the next. Anytime our Coast Guard crews head out for search and rescue, it is always our hope to safely bring those people back and reunite them with their friends and families.”

“You can’t do this work if you’re not optimistic,” Watson said, when asked about the outlook for those who are still missing. “We’re giving it all we got.”

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The Coast Guard received an emergency alert with the boat's position at 4:30 p.m., and good Samaritan crews initially responded, the Coast Guard said in a news release.

The search involved the help of four Coast Guard vessels, a Coast Guard helicopter and Coast Guard plane, in addition to four "good Samaritan vessels," the agency said. Watson said one person's body has been recovered.

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Good Samaritan vessels rescued four people from the water, a 154-foot Fast Response Coast Guard Cutter arrived within 30 minutes and rescued one person, and a 45-foot boat from the Coast Guard's Grant Isle station rescued another.

The lift boat, called the Seacor Power, has "legs" that can reach the sea floor so the vessel becomes stationary to better perform oil and gas exploration functions, including lifting people and cargo to and from off-shore rigs. Watson said the company that owns the boat is handling next-of-kin notifications for the dead and missing.

"We are deeply saddened by the news of the vessel capsizing and are working closely with the U.S. Cost Guard and local authorities to support all efforts to locate our valued team members and partners," Seacor Marine said in a statement. "We would like to thank the U.S. Coast Guard and good Samaritan vessels for their immediate response as well as the brave individuals who have further supported our search and rescue efforts. Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone involved."

Watson said the vessel departed Port Fourchon about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. Distress signals from good Samaritan vessels alerted authorities about the capsized lift boat about three hours later.

MASSILLON, Ohio — Afton Taylor died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning on a routine boat trip in 2019. Now, his parents want to warn others.

Water is the backdrop of some of Krissy and Doug Taylor’s best memories.

Doug grew up on his father’s boat and, as tradition, began taking his kids on that same boat when they were young, too.

“It’s a boat I’d been on for 20 years. We are very seasoned boaters,” he said.

Doug is a North Canton firefighter. He said he always took proper safety precautions on the boat, especially with his children.

June 30, 2019, started out like any other trip to Salt Fork State Park. The couple brought their 7-year-old son Afton and his younger brother out on the boat.

“We were just boating as we normally do,” said Krissy.

“It was one of the best days we’ve ever had. He didn’t even fight with his brother that day,” said Doug.

That day turned into a tragedy as they were getting ready to leave.

“We’ve been going through no-wake zones with dangling feet in the water for as long as I can remember,” said Doug Taylor.

Afton was sitting in the back of the boat as it was moving at a slow speed in the no-wake zone.

“I looked over [to see] if he was OK, he gave me a thumbs-up, I went back to rolling up a rope to make sure everything was secure for the trip, and then he was gone,” said Doug. “That was the last time we saw him before we had to identify his body.”

The couple came to the realization that Afton fell off the boat. Officials searched for the little boy for hours and the next day, using sonar equipment, they found his body. It was concluded that he drowned.

“We knew our son could swim. We thought that was very odd,” said Krissy.

“My son was a swimmer. He’s been in the water since he was 6 months old,” added Doug.

It was a month later when the official report came out: Afton died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

“He was gone before he even touched that water,” said Krissy.

Officials warn the colorless and odorless gas can emit from the engine and can create a toxic vacuum of fumes at the back of the boat. It’s especially dangerous at slow speeds or when the boat is docked and the engine is on.

“It is an open boat, mid-engine boat and going at a slow speed, the exhaust is underneath the boat, underneath the back deck,” said Doug.

Doug, being a firefighter and an avid boater, never knew about the dangers of carbon monoxide in the open water. Krissy said they had never been warned about carbon monoxide poisoning on a boat.

“We’ve all sat back there. We all sat on those back seats, too. It’s what they’re for,” she said.

Now, through their pain, they want to share their story.

“When we lost Afton, there was just this hole right here and it never ever gets filled again, and it’s just this emptiness. That’s a good and bad thing because when I feel that emptiness, it’s like I have to do something. We have to do something. We have to tell other people about this and that’s what we are doing,” she said.

They want other parents to know that smaller children should never be in the back of the boat at low speeds, as carbon monoxide can poison their bodies at a faster rate.

“The proper way is for everybody to sit in the front of the boat,” said Doug. “Even the open air boats can be and is very dangerous to small children if you don’t know.”

T.J. Martin with the Parma Fire Department said it is important to buy a carbon monoxide detector for your boat, no matter what type it is and, especially, if you have a small indoor cabin.

“When you take the cabin of a boat, which is substantially smaller than a house, and emit carbon monoxide to the area, the area fills up exponentially quicker,” said Martin.

Martin said if you feel like you may have carbon monoxide poisoning, get into fresh air as fast as possible, away from the engine, and call 911.

The Taylors are working to create a law in Ohio dedicated to Afton and creating more awareness about carbon monoxide poisoning on boats.

They have started “Love Like Afton,” which is an organization dedicated to spreading information about carbon monoxide poisoning and dedicated to acts of kindness, like buddy benches at schools. They said their boy had a big heart and loved everyone.

“We just want to spread his love the best we can,” said Krissy.

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include a headache, weakness, fatigue, nausea or vomiting, shortness of breath, confusion, blurred vision, and loss of consciousness.

This story was originally published by Jessi Schultz at WEWS.