Boating accident kills one, injures another near Sand Harbor

A man's body was discovered submerged in shallow waters and another man was seriously injured aboard a nearby vessel 7 a.m. Friday in the wake of a fatal late-night boating accident near Sand Harbor.

The names of the crash victims have not yet been released, but officials said the boat's trailer was stored in an alley near an Incline residence.

While on early morning patrol along State Route 28, Washoe County Sheriff's deputy Eric Fredrickson noticed a 20-plus-foot cabin cruiser crashed upon the rocks just north of Sand Harbor.

Once on scene, Fredrickson discovered an injured man inside the boat, which was reportedly launched from a pier in Incline sometime late Thursday night.

The boat, mired on rocks almost completely out of the water, appeared to hit the shoreline at a high speeds, officials said. The boat was not equipped with night running lights.

Fredrickson immediately notified water rescue teams from the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District who arrived on scene via jet ski.

One boater alive at the scene, identified as the passenger, was discovered outside the boat's cabin having sustained serious injuries.

The other occupant, identified as the driver, was discovered 15 feet from the crash site submerged 8 feet beneath the lake's surface and pronounced dead at the scene.

"The man inside the boat was slipping in and out of consciousness when rescuers found him," said Washoe County Sheriff's sergeant Russ Peterson, who oversees the county's Search and Rescue operations. "He immediately told the rescuers to look for the driver, who they found underwater near the boat."

Search and Rescue officials said the accident occurred around midnight Thursday and the passenger was unable to move or call for help during the night.

The unidentified man, who officials said was laying in the front cabin of the boat when the crash occurred, was air-lifted to Washoe Medical Center via the Cal-Star helicopter Friday just before 8 a.m.

The injured boater's current condition has not been released.

As of 10 a.m. Friday, sheriff's office crime scene investigators, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Washoe County Search and Rescue divers were on scene.