people were onboard a 21 foot Ski Nautique on Lake Gage in Steuben County Indiana about 7:15pm Saturday July 15, 2017. Dominique Effinger a 20 year old female was operating the boat. The boat took a hard turn and all ten people on board were ejected.
The unmanned boat went into the Circle of Death at an estimated 30 mph with ten people in the water.
“Several seriously injured people were taken to shore by local citizens’ boats so EMS and fire units could tend to the injuries, the statement said. It said two people were flown to Parkview Regional Medical Center in Fort Wayne with injuries including a skull fracture and a partial lower-arm amputation. Others less seriously hurt were taken to Cameron Memorial Community Hospital in Angola.
Carlile threw a rope from the patrol boat to entangle the motorboat’s propeller, the statement said. It said the boat then struck a dock and changed direction, striking the back of the patrol boat and disabling the patrol boat’s motor.
The rope slowed the motorboat, the statement said, and Carlile used a nearby personal watercraft to jump onto the runaway boat while both were in motion. He then brought the motorboat to a stop.”
Alcohol is said to have been a factor in the accident. Dominique Effinger, the boat operator, was arrested for BWI (Boating While Intoxicated), causing injury, and for being a minor in possession of alcohol.
To date (17 July), none of the injuries have been specifically described in the media as propeller strikes, but with 10 people in the water, four reported as serious injuries, including one skull fracture, and one arm amputation we suspect one or more of these people were struck by the boat propeller.
Some bystanders captured portions of the event on video.
Videos of the earlier portion of the event show the boat circling not far from shore.
The later videos show the boat crashing into a boat dock and into the Indiana DNR vessel that appears to have had three people on board. They were extremely lucky one or more of those on the DNR vessel was not seriously injured or killed as seen in the videos below.
Below is a side view of when the boat struck the DNR boat posted by Yuxxy on YouTube.
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