Inquiry into fatal Wis. boat crash may take months

LAKE HALLIE, Wis. (AP) — Authorities in Wisconsin say it could take several months to reconstruct a high-speed boat collision that killed four people, including three groomsmen celebrating a weekend wedding.

Chippewa County Undersheriff Eugene Gutsch says the extent of the damage suggests that both boats were traveling at high speeds even though it was dark.

A deck boat with six people aboard slammed into a smaller speedboat carrying two people Friday night on the Chippewa River. A man in the smaller boat also was killed.

Autopsies were being conducted Monday on three of the people killed. County coroner Ronald Patten said the autopsy reports could take about two months as authorities await the results of toxicology tests.

The groom-to-be was briefly hospitalized and released Saturday. A passenger from the second boat remains hospitalized.