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July 11, 2012

Teen's leg severed after boat strikes rock in Maine lake

Some of the six passengers are thrown into the water upon impact, and the boat propeller hits one of them.

Video segment from WGME-TV Tuesday night news.

From staff reports

LOVELL — A 15-year-old girl suffered a severed leg Tuesday when the family motorboat crashed into a submerged rock on Kezar Lake, according to the Maine Warden Service.

Abby Mueller of Houston, Texas, was ejected from the boat when the 24-foot Correct Craft driven by her father hit the rock, which the warden service said was "barely visible from the surface."

The propeller severed her leg below the knee when the boat "ran over" her, the warden service said.

Mueller was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Her condition wasn't known late Tuesday night.

A spokeswoman said the hospital doesn't comment on patients who have been involved in crashes.

According to the warden service, the area where the boat crashed was marked with five hazard buoys. The boat hit a rock inside the marked hazard area.

Alcohol wasn't believed to be a factor in the accident, which happened at 2:45 p.m.

The crash involved six family members, the warden service said.

A 13-year-old boy was tubing off the back of the boat. Three girls – Mueller, another 15-year-old and a 13-year-old – were sitting on the bow. And a 10-year-old boy was sitting on the back of the boat.

Three are children of the boat's driver, 44-year-old Robert Mueller. The two others are family cousins from Woodstock, Conn.

All three teenage girls were ejected from the boat on impact, the warden service said, but it appears that only Abby Mueller suffered serious injuries.

 

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