The lake's safety record, kept current and fully sourced.
A continuously updated account of boating accidents and drownings on the Lake of the Ozarks, compiled from Missouri State Highway Patrol public reports — searchable, charted, and citable.
The Patrol's source keeps only about a year online, so a full prior-year comparison appears once our own archive covers it. This is the gap our permanent record closes.
Trends
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| Year | Incidents | Fatalities |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 19 | 8 |
| 2026 | 24 | 6 |
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| Severity | Persons |
|---|---|
| Fatal | 14 |
| Serious | 8 |
| Moderate | 11 |
| Minor | 19 |
| No injury | 16 |
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| Month | Incidents |
|---|---|
| Jan | 0 |
| Feb | 0 |
| Mar | 0 |
| Apr | 1 |
| May | 6 |
| Jun | 6 |
| Jul | 16 |
| Aug | 12 |
| Sep | 0 |
| Oct | 1 |
| Nov | 0 |
| Dec | 1 |
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| Life jacket | Persons |
|---|---|
| Worn | 18 |
| Not worn | 33 |
| Not recorded | 17 |
| Total persons | 68 |
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| Age band | Persons |
|---|---|
| 0–12 | 4 |
| 13–17 | 6 |
| 18–25 | 13 |
| 26–40 | 10 |
| 41–60 | 19 |
| 61+ | 10 |
When & where incidents happen
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| Day | Incidents |
|---|---|
| Sun | 6 |
| Mon | 1 |
| Tue | 3 |
| Wed | 9 |
| Thu | 5 |
| Fri | 7 |
| Sat | 12 |
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| Part of day | Incidents |
|---|---|
| Overnight | 6 |
| Morning | 8 |
| Afternoon | 16 |
| Evening | 13 |
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| Home state | People |
|---|---|
| MO (in-state) | 42 |
| KS | 7 |
| IL | 4 |
| OH | 3 |
| IA | 2 |
| NE | 2 |
| FL | 1 |
| ME | 1 |
| WI | 1 |
| TX | 1 |
| Not recorded | 4 |
| Incident type | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drowning | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 12 | |||||||
| Collision with Watercraft | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | ||||||||
| Person Ejected from Watercraft | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||
| Person Impacts Watercraft | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
| Grounding | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| Collision with Fixed Object | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Near Drowning | 2 | 2 | |||||||||||
| Towed Watersport Mishap | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Person Falls Overboard | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Capsizing | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Person Departs Watercraft Voluntarily | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Struck by Propeller | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Fire / Explosion | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Collision with Floating Object | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| All types | 1 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 43 |
Common questions
How many drownings have there been on the Lake of the Ozarks in 2026?
As of 2026-08-26, there have been 6 drowning(s) and 6 total fatalities recorded on the Lake of the Ozarks in 2026, according to Missouri State Highway Patrol (Troop F).
Where does this data come from?
Every figure is compiled from Missouri State Highway Patrol public boating and drowning incident reports for Troop F, which covers the Lake of the Ozarks. Records are ingested daily and each links back to its source report.
Are victim names published here?
No. We never publish victim names. We report the incident type, county, age, hometown, injury severity, and life-jacket use as recorded by the Patrol, and we handle fatalities and incidents involving minors with additional restraint.
How current is the tracker?
The dataset is refreshed daily from the Patrol's public feed; each page shows its own last-updated date. New incidents typically appear within a day of the Patrol publishing them.
Using this data in a story?
Download the dataset, grab a citable chart, or read our methodology. Everything is sourced to Missouri State Highway Patrol and free to cite with attribution.