By Avi Selk
The Dallas Morning News
LEWISVILLE LAKE, Texas — A fun outing on Lewisville Lake took a grim turn Sunday as two boats carrying eight children collided, seriously injuring at least one boy.
The boats, rented by three families from Garland, were a few miles north of the Lewisville Lake Toll Bridge when one ran into the side of the other, sinking it. The boaters were rescued and taken to shore, where some were airlifted to hospitals around North Texas.
A 10-year-old boy, Jihad Salem, the most seriously hurt, underwent head surgery Sunday evening at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, said Lydia Saldaña, a spokeswoman for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. The hospital said it could not release information on his condition.
Everyone in the party was taken to a hospital, many with only minor injuries, but their status was not known.
Texas Parks & Wildlife was investigating the crash. Saldaña said there was no indication of alcohol use or negligence by the four adults in the party.
The outcome might have been much worse had everyone aboard not being wearing a life vest, she said.
It was bad enough for Jon Sasser, a marina worker who watched the mayhem from a fueling station at the end of a pier.
Sasser said he realized something was wrong when he heard the sirens of an approaching fire truck and saw a fishing boat speeding toward the dock.
The boat unloaded three boys onto the dock. Sasser said the boat was driven by a bystander who had rescued the children, but Parks & Wildlife could not immediately confirm that.
Sasser said he tried to comfort a crying 8-year-old while emergency workers treated the other boys — both unconscious and bleeding from their heads.
“He was asking if his daddy and brother would be OK,” Sasser said.
The boy’s brother was already in a neck brace, and his father was nowhere to be seen, he said.
“It was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced out here.”
After the boys were taken away by emergency workers, Sasser watched from the pier as rescue boats brought in more injured children.
Copyright 2010 THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS