BRISTOL, Tenn. — Officials said a woman was dead Monday after a boating crash involving a pontoon boat and a "personal watercraft" on South Holston Lake, in Sullivan County.
Samantha Jo Hess, a 23-year-old, was killed after the pontoon boat had three people on board and it crashed into a watercraft carrying two people upstream of the 421 bridge access area and Laurel Marina, according to the Tennesee Wildlife Resources Agency.
The TWRA said it happened at around 6 p.m. Monday.
A man was driving the watercraft and Hess was the passenger. Both were taken back to the 421 access area on a boat where emergency services started helping them.
They said the man was taken to the Johnson City Medical Center on a helicopter with serious injuries and Hess was pronounced dead at Bristol Medical Center.
Both people were wearing floatation devices, officials said. They also said nobody on the pontoon boat was hurt.
The TWRA said that the incident is being investigated.