Bodies found in 3 fatal boating accidents

Published 1:00 am Tuesday, July 3, 2007

The bodies of all three people dead in separate weekend boating accidents have been found.

The bodies of David Hoffpauir, 46, of Denham Springs and 7-year-old Noah Buras of Breaux Bridge were found Monday, one day after that of William Smith Jr., 56, of Baton Rouge.

Hoffpauir’s body was found in Lake Maurepas, where he was last seen jumping into the water from his 20-foot aluminum boat on Saturday, said Bo Boehringer, a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries spokesman.

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He said Vermilion Parish authorities found Buras’ body on a beach about 1 mile east of Freshwater Bayou, Boehringer said. Buras was wearing a life jacket when the boat he was on with his father and another adult capsized Saturday, Boehringer said. The adults made it to safety, but the boy slipped out of his lifejacket and wasn’t wearing it when his body was found.

Both deaths are still being investigated, Boehringer said, as is that of Smith, who disappeared after jumping off a party barge Saturday in the Amite River Diversion Canal.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Monday that its report of a second person missing in Lake Maurepas on Sunday was erroneous.

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