Jul. 8—A 17-year-old girl from Tennessee was killed Monday after a jet ski struck her while she was swimming in the Elk River near the Clements area, according to Limestone County Coroner Mike West and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
West said he received a call at 1:43 p.m. and he drove to Athens-Limestone Hospital where the teenager had been admitted. He said she was declared dead about an hour later and her official cause of death was blunt force trauma.
“She was in the water on a float and there was another person on a jet ski that was circling her and hit her accidentally,” West said. “She was unconscious. They pulled her to the dock and when they got her out of the water, she was not responsive and didn’t have a pulse. So then, they started CPR.”
According to ALEA, the girl fell off an inflatable tube being towed by an 11-foot Sea-Doo personal watercraft operated by another 17-year-old from Tennessee. After she fell from the tube, she was struck by a 10-foot Sea-Doo personal watercraft driven by a 48-year-old from Pulaski, Tennessee.
West said Clements Volunteer Fire Department, Limestone County Sheriff’s Office and Athens-Limestone Emergency Medical Services all responded to the scene on Bream Bluff Road. He said the Alabama Marine Police are investigating the case.
Jet ski wrecks and fatalities are not something that happens often in Limestone County, according to West.
“Usually it’s kayakers,” West said.
— wesley.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2442.