SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A 7-year-old girl suffered severe leg and foot injuries and was hospitalized along with her 5-year-old brother and mother following a personal watercraft collision Monday morning on Lake Tahoe.
According to the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, dispatchers received a 911 call at about 9:45 a.m. Monday reporting that two personal watercraft had collided about a quarter mile northwest of Timbercove Beach.
Both vessels had been rented at the Timbercove Marina by 45-year-old Sufian Kazmi and his wife, Subia Kazmi, of San Jose, Calif., neither of whom had prior experience operating a personal watercraft, according to police.
The father and mother each took one of their children as a passenger seated behind them. Everyone was wearing life jackets. After about a half-hour, the mother's craft crossed in front of the father's; both were traveling at about 30 miles per hour when the front of the father's craft struck the mother's craft broadside.
The parents and both children were ejected from the watercraft. Personnel from the Timbercove Marina rescued the family, and the victims were returned back to the Timbercove pier in two boats.
The 7-year-old girl suffered severe injuries, believed to be non life-threatening, to her leg and foot and was flown to Reno for medical assistance, according to police. The 5-year-old boy and his mother both suffered moderate head and leg injuries and were transported to Barton Memorial Hospital. The father was relatively unhurt. The investigation is continuing.