Summer fun in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton and Newport News involves boats, Jet Skis and other personal watercraft, and tubing. But the spray of water and the feel of sun on our skin might not be the only thing we feel when we get into the rivers, beach areas and waterways of our area. More injuries and accidents are bound to occur as the weather heats up just by the sheer number of boaters on the water. Our Virginia boating and marine accident injury lawyers field calls about unusual boating injuries on a regular basis including this one involving a child.
If you were boating on the Chesapeake Bay on Thursday you may have seen a handful of police boats and divers around a 24-foot boat. That’s because a twelve year old girl’s leg was impaled by a boat propeller. This bizarre accident occurred when the girl tried to get back on the boat after tubing.
Police and firefighters responded to the boat accident and kept the girls head above water while they fought to free her leg. I’m sure this young lady was terrified and I’m glad that first responders were able to get to her before she died from blood loss or drowned. The rescue took 90 minutes, during which time the girl was in intense pain until rescuers were finally able to unbolt the propeller. They rushed the girl to the hospital with the propeller still impaled in her leg.
There was no word if the young woman was wearing a life jacket. But the Boater’s Safety Resource Center advises that life jackets be worn by every boater because the personal flotation devices can save lives when a swimmer or boater is injured by rocks or submerged objects. As experienced Virginia boating and marine injury lawyers we have seen our share of marine accidents, some like this one may have been prevented by adhering to boating safety, while others were caused by negligent boat operators who were under the influence or boating while intoxicated.
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