Investigators May Never Know If Mechanical Malfunction Led To Deadly Lake Texoma Crash

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Investigators say they can't determine whether a mechanical malfunction caused a collision between two jet boats that killed five people.<br/><br/>Witnesses reported the September

Tuesday, September 19th 2006, 6:15 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Investigators say they can't determine whether a mechanical malfunction caused a collision between two jet boats that killed five people.

Witnesses reported the September 2nd collision between the "Flash Gordon," a 36-foot turbine-powered catamaran, and the "Nashville Katz," with a potential top speed of about 150 miles per hour, occurred at speeds close to 100 miles per hour. The impact destroyed both vessels, complicating investigators' attempts to reconstruct what happened.

A spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Kera Philippi, says the "Flash Gordon" was so badly damaged it couldn't be determined if it had a mechanical malfunction before it veered into the path of the other boat.