Two men died Saturday afternoon after the boat they were riding in struck a floating object on the Mississippi River near Dubuque, ejecting all three people aboard into the water. A nearby boat managed to pull one survivor from the river, while first responders recovered the other two occupants and pronounced them dead at the scene.
According to Radio Iowa, first responders were called to Massey Marina in Dubuque at about 3 p.m. on Oct. 3 after the boat struck a floating object in the river, throwing all three occupants overboard. A boat in the vicinity rescued one person from the water, while first responders recovered the other two occupants and pronounced them dead at the scene, the Iowa DNR said.
The same sequence of events was described by the Des Moines Register, which reported that local law enforcement agencies responded to Massey Marina around 3 p.m. for a call about a single-boat accident, and that the boat struck a floating object in the river, according to a release from the Iowa DNR.
Multiple Agencies Respond to the Scene
The response drew crews from several jurisdictions. Per KCTN, members of the Dubuque County Sheriff's Office, Iowa DNR, Dubuque County Conservation, Key West EMS and East Dubuque, IL EMS all responded to Massey Marina for the single-boat accident on the Mississippi River. The station reported that two male occupants of the boat were recovered from the river and pronounced deceased on scene.
The investigation into the crash remains active. The same report notes the incident is under investigation by the Iowa DNR and is ongoing, with no additional findings on the cause released beyond the reported impact with the floating object. Officials said the names of those involved were scheduled for release at 9 a.m. on Oct. 5, pending notification of family members.
A String of Fatal Accidents on Iowa Waters
The Dubuque crash follows a summer in which Iowa boating officials repeatedly urged operators to stay alert on the water. An Iowa DNR officer said in comments to Radio Iowa that three fatal boating accidents in the prior month likely could have been prevented if boaters and personal watercraft operators were fully paying attention to their surroundings, adding that distractions are a leading cause of watercraft accidents across the nation. The officer also called two fatal crashes on Clear Lake within 26 days an unprecedented anomaly.
Despite those incidents, the same DNR officer noted that Iowa's overall boating fatality rate trails the national figure, with the state averaging 2.7 fatalities per 100,000 registered boats compared with a U.S. average of 5.5. Earlier in the year, the Iowa DNR said that in 2025 the agency and its partners interacted with more than 1,230 vessels and 5,036 boaters, resulting in 382 citations or warnings as part of a safety enforcement effort known as Operation Dry.
