Three injured in two boating accidents

Three people were injured, two seriously, in two separate boating accidents on the Fourth of July holiday last week.

An eight-year-old Utah girl was taken by Air St. Luke's ambulance to St. Luke's Regional Medical Center after the raft in which she was riding with members of her family flipped on the South Fork river just below Baumgardner Campground.

The raft apparently hit a partially submerged logjam in the river. The four people in the five-man raft, all of whom were wearing life jackets, were all thrown from the raft. Family members who came ashore several hundred yards downstream from the scene immediately began searching for her. She was found an estimated five to seven minutes later trapped under the log jam. Her father found and extricated her from the river and he and other family members immediately began CPR until ambulances arrived.

Upon arrival at St. Luke's she was placed on a ventilator and listed in critical condition in the pediatric intensive care unit.

The sheriff's office had removed its high water warning signs only a few days before, but authorities continue to caution boaters and rafters on the rivers in the mountains that waters remain swift and dangerous.

A second boating accident occurred July 4 on the C.J. Strike Reservoir southeast of the Black Sands marina area.

The accident occured at about 2 a.m. when a 19-foot jet boat, traveling with no lights and at a high rate of speed, hit some rocks in the water, launching the boat into the air. It grounded well onto the shore.

The boat was carrying three males and one female, who were not identified by the Owyhee County Sheriff's office, beyond the fact that none were from the local area. One male and female were taken by air ambulance from the scene and reported in stable condition. There were reports the female had suffered a broken neck. The other two members of the party were not injured. Although life jackets were aboard the boat, none were being used at the time of the incident.

The accident remains under investigation.