1 dead, 2 hurt as boat hits Lake Erie wall

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — A pleasure boat traveling through a storm in the dark slammed into a break wall near northwest Ohio’s Lake Erie islands, killing one person and injuring two others, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The boat hit the wall Tuesday night during a storm that was kicking up waves of about 3 feet, authorities said.

A Coast Guard crew training nearby at the time reached the boat quickly, finding two people standing in shallow water. A third person, Jennifer Ulisse, of Kelleys Island, was found in the water and later pronounced dead, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Lauren Jorgensen, a Coast Guard spokeswoman in Cleveland.

The two injured boaters were conscious, but had severe head and other injuries, Jorgensen said. They were identified as the boat’s operator Donald Dunn, of Put-in-Bay, and passenger, Tina Callari, of Lakewood, according to investigators with the Ohio Division of Watercraft.

The accident happened just off Ballast Island — a tiny private island with a few houses that’s near South Bass and Middle Bass islands. The area is about halfway between Toledo and Cleveland.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known.