Woman killed in boat crash

[Lee Borgersen]

  Minnesota woman killed in crash on Devils Lake.

8/10/15
 




DEVILS LAKE, N.D. — Officials have identified the victim in a fatal boating crash on Devils Lake.


Ramsey County Sheriff Steve Nelson said April Stenger, 26, of Detroit Lakes, Minn., was pronounced dead at the scene after a boat she was in struck a tree that was sticking out of the lake.

 
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Four others were hurt in the incident, Nelson said. Kyle Everson, 26, of Devils Lake; Joel Kurtz Jr., 26, of Devils Lake; and Danielle Brommenschenkel, 40, of Halstad, Minn., were all airlifted to Altru Hospital in Grand Forks after suffering injuries in the crash. The driver, Tom Burns, 54, of Grand Forks was driven to the hospital.

According to an Altru spokesman, Everson and Kurtz are in critical condition, and Brommenschenkel is in satisfactory condition. Burns is not currently a patient at the hospital.


At about 2:45 a.m., the group’s boat was traveling at about 30 mph when it struck a tree that was partially submerged in water about 30 yards from the shore. The crash happened in Haybale Heights area of Devils Lake, about five miles east of the city, Nelson said.


People at a nearby campground heard a loud crashing noise and called 911.


The sheriff said he did not know why the people were out on the lake, but said the group was not out fishing. He also did not say if alcohol or drugs were involved in the crash.


Sunday’s crash was the first accident to occur on Devils Lake since 2011, according to data from the U.S. Coast Guard.


From 1995 to 2014, 34 people died in boating-related accidents in North Dakota.


In Devils Lake, there were a total of 14 boating accidents in that time frame. Of those accidents, there were two deaths in 2002 when a boat capsized and two injuries in separate incidents in 2008. Nobody was injured in the other 11 accidents.


  Nelson said Sunday’s accident is still under investigation.

A heavily damaged boat is shown in this submitted photo. One person died and others were injured in the accident on North Dakota's Devils Lake on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015.


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[deadeye]

"At about 2:45 a.m., the group’s boat was traveling at about 30 mph when it struck a tree that was partially submerged in water about 30 yards from the shore."

Really, not to make light of anyone dying or getting hurt, but 30 miles an hour, 30 yards from shore in the middle of the night......