Waterskiing Accident Kills Teenager, Officials Say

An 18-year-old New York woman has died as a result of a waterskiing accident on Lake Lillinonah in Newtown Saturday, officials said. The teenager, who was from Yonkers, was not being identified pending familiy notification, officials said.

The teenage was water skiing when her line apparently became entangled in the propeller of the boat that was pulling her near the Shepaug Dam at about 5 p.m., officials said.

Boaters who were with her pulled her out of the water and other nearby boaters took her and others onto their vessel, and returned to the boat launch on Hanover Road where emergency crews took over, transporting the teen to Danbury Hospital, officials said.

People who had gathered at the Housatonic Knolls Recreation Association said that they could see CPR being performed on the teen in the boat as it headed towards shore.

Other boaters at the scene, who said they helped transport the teen and the people who were with her to the Hanover boat launch, said the victim was accompanied by her cousin and others. The cousin was among those who performed CPR on the teen, according to the boaters, who declined to be named.

The boaters also said the teen had to be taken by another vessel back to the launch because the boat that had been towing the teen had become disabled as a result of the line entanglement.

The teen later died at the hospital, according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which has taken over the investigation.

The Newtown Underwater Search and Rescue team also were called to the scene but the teenager had been pulled out of the water already, Chief Mike McCarthy said.

"We were dispatched and returned enroute," he said.

DEEP said more information will be released when it becomes available.

Editor's note: The DEEP has since said the woman was wake boarding at the time of the incident. A follow-up article can be found at