ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JON CAWLEY
A 24-year-old Woodbridge man was killed Thursday afternoon when his personal watercraft collided with a boat on Smith Mountain Lake.
The accident was the sixth involving a personal watercraft on Smith Mountain Lake in 10 days.
The victim's name was not released.
He crashed into the side of a Runabout his companions from Penhook and Maryland were operating on Bull Run, off the Blackwater River arm of Smith Mountain Lake in Franklin County, about 1 p.m. The man traveled down the side of the boat and under the prop, suffering many cuts, said Lt. Karl Martin, of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
His companions pulled the victim from the water. The Cool Branch Rescue Squad transported him to Franklin Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
"This is not unusual that companions crash into each other," Martin said.
In the five other recent accidents involving personal watercraft, injuries ranged from a broken leg to a broken back.
LENGTH: Short : 30 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB