Over the weekend St Tammany Fire Protection District 1, STPSO and other agencies worked a boating accident involving a boat that hit the Highway 11 bridge in Lake Pontchartrain.
Two of the four persons on the vessel were transported to the hospital via helicopter and one person was missing. Later, according to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, the body of the missing person in Lake Pontchartrain was recovered. The Coast Guard said they suspended the search at 11:30 a.m. Sunday as they received notification from the STPSO of the recovery of the missing person, who was reportedly unresponsive.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has identified the missing person as 33-year-old Rod Willhoft, of Arabi. Willhoft’s body was recovered near where the incident took place. The Coast Guard says they received a call at 6 p.m. Saturday stating a 24-foot bay boat with five people aboard collided with the Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge on Lake Pontchartrain. LDWF agents say Willhoft was ejected from the boat and did not resurface. The other four passengers stayed in the boat.
The LDWF Enforcement Division will the lead investigative agency for this fatal boating incident.
