A pair of boating related accidents on Norris Lake today left one teenager seriously injured while another man escapes with minor injuries.
TWRA Officers report that a 17-year-old boy was seriously injured when he apparently jumped from a bridge and into a bass boat passing underneath. The accident occurred at a bridge on Demory Road, which is on the Big Creek arm of Norris Lake. The young man jumped from a height of approximately 30 feet and landed near the center of a Norris Craft bass boat.
The teenager seriously injured his back and foot while causing structural damage to the vessel. The boat’s operator was uninjured in the incident.
The young man was airlifted to the University of Tennessee Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. Alcohol is not being considered as a factor in the accident.
In a separate accident near Anderson County Park in Andersonville at about 3:30 p.m., a man was attempting to start a borrowed personal watercraft (PWC) when an explosion occurred. Witnesses say that he was thrown several feet into the air.
He was also transported to the UT Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. He was treated and released from the hospital.
Officers say that the PWC was severely damaged and left in multiple pieces and that the accident is still under investigation.