A child and a teenager riding on an inner tube were injured after being run over by a personal watercraft Friday afternoon on Lake Lanier, officials said.
The two, whose names were not released, were being pulled on a large tube behind a pontoon boat when they were struck by a watercraft being driven by a 38-year-old man, Melissa Cummings with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources told the AJC.
The man driving the watercraft and the two children were part of the same group that rented a pontoon boat and personal watercraft for an outing at the lake, Sgt. Mike Bergamy with the DNR told Channel 2 Action News. The inner tube and watercraft collided near Van Pugh Park, off Gaines Ferry Road.
Both an 11-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl were flown to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, according to Hall County fire Chief David Kimbrell.
The boy's injuries were more serious than those suffered by the teen, Cummings said. He was unresponsive after being pulled from the water after sustaining an apparent head injury and remained in critical condition late Friday, officials said. The teen girl was in stable condition.
Two DNR agents in the area witnessed the collision and were able to pull one of the children from the water, Bergamy said. A Good Samaritan in a nearby boat helped rescue the other child, he said.
The three involved in the incident were not believed to be related, but investigators said they were all at the lake together. The driver of the personal watercraft was from the Atlanta area, Bergamy said.
The state DNR was investigating the incident late Friday afternoon. Alcohol was not believed to be a factor, but it was unclear whether any charges would be filed, Cummings said.
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