2 dead, 2 injured after boat crash on Lake Winnebago
VINLAND, Wis. (WLUK) -- The Winnebago County Sheriff's responded to a two-boat collision Saturday night.
Deputies say it happened just after 8:30 p.m. about a mile east of Paynes Point. A 26-foot boat collided with a 20-foot boat.
"All of a sudden, we just heard the collision and I said, 'oh that's not good,'" said David Frakes.
First responders used Frakes' boat to respond to the scene of the accident.
Two people were on the 26-foot boat. Four people were on the 20-foot boat.
At the time of response, Frakes said rescuers asked if anyone was in the water.
"She said yeah," Frakes recalled. "One of the first responders jumped in the 20-footer and went to shore and the two other responders stayed with us and kept searching."
A 20-year-old and 26-year-old, both women from Neenah are dead after they were ejected from the 20-foot boat. The body of a dog was also recovered.
The two others on the 20-foot boat were taken to the hospital.
The two people on the 26-foot boat were treated on shore.
The damaged boat was left at Lidya Trusov's dock overnight. Sheriff's investigators used a crane to lift it out of the water Sunday afternoon.
"We helped them to anchor it," said Trusov. "They were supposed to have four people on it but they only had two."
Trusov remained visibly upset while the search continued.
"Devastated, absolutely sad. We couldn't sleep last night we just didn't know if we should try to get in our boat at try to go help," she said.
It was nearly a full day of searching before the bodies of the two women ejected were recovered.
