A photo of a personal watercraft and operator that witnesses described as striking a boat containing a family pulling a child on a tube on Melton Hill Lake on Thursday, June 30, 2016. (Photo courtesy TWRA)
Tennessee officials are investigating a hit-and-run boating crash on Thursday on Melton Hill Lake in the area of Clark Park and Knox County Park.
The crash was reported at about 7:45 p.m. Thursday. Among the agencies that responded were the Oak Ridge Fire Department, which went to Clark Center Park in south Oak Ridge.
According to witnesses, two personal watercrafts, or PWCs, were operating near the bluffs directly across from Knox County Park and going back and forth between the dock at the park and the bluffs where others were swimming, according to a press release from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Witnesses describe the operators as being reckless and inconsiderate, and as one of the PWCs left the bluff and headed toward the park, it collided with a boat in the area containing a family pulling a child on a tube.
The impact caused injuries to two women on the vessel and serious injuries to a 6-year-old child in the water, the press release said. An 11-year-old child was also injured and transported to the hospital. The operators of both PWCs then fled the scene.
Witnesses describe the PWC that struck the boat as an older model purple and white PWC being operated by a tall, thin, blonde white male. A photo of this PWC and operator is being released to the public. The other PWC is described as blue and white being operated by a white male.
TWRA is asking for anyone with information on the identities of the PWC operators to please contact TWRA at (800) 831-1174.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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