14-year-old Kaden Forke from Texas dies after falling off boat that lost control of Lake Austin
- The body of missing teen Kaden Forke was recovered from Lake Austin Monday after a boating accident days before he was due to start high school.
- Forke was on a boat with six other people when he took a lot of control while going over the wake of another boat and crashing into a bank
- Four other persons were taken to local hospitals with serious injuries
The body of missing teen Kaden Forke was recovered Monday night in Lake Austin following a boating accident, officials confirmed.
The 14-year-old died just days before he was due to start as a freshman at Lake Travis High School.
Forke was on a boat with six other people when he took a lot of control while going over the wake of another boat and crashing into a bank.
Four other persons were taken to local hospitals with serious injuries.
APD’s Lake Patrol Unit and Dive Team, Lake Med EMS, Austin Fire Department and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department began an extensive search and recovery operation, but unfortunately Forke was pronounced dead at the scene.
14-year-old Kaden Forke died just days before he was to start as a freshman at Lake Travis High School
APD’s Lake Patrol Unit and Dive Team, Lake Med EMS, Austin Fire Department and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department began an extensive search and recovery operation, but unfortunately Forke was pronounced dead at the scene
Forke was on a boat with six other people when he took a lot of control while going over the wake of another boat and crashing into a bank
At a press conference on Monday, Austin-Travis County EMS Captain Darren Noak said, “with a lake as narrow as it is, it gets very busy very quickly.
“You get a lot of head currents and a lot of headwinds, so if you plow the lake as fast as your boat is going, you could have an accident.
Addition: ‘Even if you drive slowly, you can have an accident.’
A witness at the lake, James Wood, told Fox 7, “It looked as if a large cypress tree had been roughly chopped in half at its thickest part and the boat was hanging over it by its branches.”
“The wreck had just happened and there was already a dive team telling me someone was probably missing or underwater,” he told the outlet.
Forke attended Hudson Bend Middle School and was a member of the Audio Visual Production/Broadcast program.
In a statement, the principal of Lake Travis Elementary said the loss of Forke is a “tragic loss to our school community.”
“Kaden is what we call an ‘LT Lifer’. He began his academic journey as a kindergarten student at Lake Travis Elementary.
Forke, pictured with his family in May before disaster struck
At a press conference on Monday, Captain Darren Noak of Austin-Travis County EMS said “with a lake as narrow as it is, it gets very busy very quickly.”
In May, Kaden completed eighth grade at Hudson Bend Middle School, where he participated in track and field and was a member of the audiovisual production/broadcast program.
“His mother, Jennifer, currently serves as a monitor at LTE,” the statement read.
A GoFundMe was set up to help May with funeral and memorial expenses, and as of Friday night had raised nearly $30,000.