The founder of an offshore powerboat company died Tuesday after his boat launched into the air, flipped and crash-landed on the Lake of the Ozarks during a racing event.
Michael Fiore, 44, was the throttleman in a 42-foot catamaran when it crashed Saturday on the milelong racing course. He was airlifted to a hospital in Columbia, where he died after complications from surgery, according to Lake News Online.
The boat's driver and only other occupant -- Joel Begin, 47, of Valley Field, Quebec -- was injured and survived the crash at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout event.
See also: Crazy Lake of the Ozarks Boat Crash Footage Goes Viral [VIDEO]
"We are devastated by what's happened," Ron Duggan, committee chairman for the race, said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We've never experienced anything like this in our 26 years."
The crash was caught on video by people filming the race. These racing fans watching from a nearby dock begin scream with fear as the boat flies into the air:
Commentators for Fox KRBK call the crash "one of the most harrowing pictures we've ever seen at this event":
The Missouri Highway Patrol blamed the crash on wind, which picked the boat up as it traveled about 170 mph, causing it to flip end over end and crash-land in the water. But other boats on the race course, including at least one traveling at a top speed of 244 mph, didn't have the same problem.
"It was a smooth course -- no waves, no bumps," Duggan told the Post-Dispatch. "A big bluff protects them from wind. For some reason, the boat just trapped air underneath it and flipped."
Fiore was the owner of the Rhode Island-based Outerlimits Offshore Powerboat Company and had a wife and three young children.
Follow Lindsay Toler on Twitter at @StLouisLindsay. E-mail the author at [email protected].
