Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agents are investigating a fatal boating incident in Lafourche Parish.
The boating incident took place around 3 p.m. near Mud Lake along Bayou Des Allemands after a swamp tour airboat from Airboat Tours by Arthur collided with a mud boat.
The operator of the mud boat, Bart B. Dufrene Jr., 35, of Des Allemands, was pronounced deceased by the St. Charles Parish Coroner at the St. Charles Parish Hospital. The airboat operator and the five passengers were uninjured.
According to the survivors on the airboat, the mud boat and the airboat were traveling in opposite directions on the same side of the bayou and collided while navigating a bend in the bayou. Dufrene Jr. was ejected into the water and recovered by the airboat operator. The airboat operator was then able to transport Dufrene Jr. to the shore where an ambulance was waiting to transport him to the St. Charles Parish Hospital.
The operator of the mud boat was not wearing a personal flotation device; however, it is unknown at this time if it could have prevented this fatality. The St. Charles Parish Coroner’s Office will perform an autopsy to determine a cause of death.