Woman dead, 4 injured after boat crash near Chicago's Monroe Harbor
A woman died and four others were injured after a boat crash near Chicago's Monroe Harbor overnight.
The Coast Guard said the crash involved two boats and a total of 14 people. One boat had five people aboard, the other had nine.
Chicago fire officials said the boats were on their way back into port shortly after 11:30 p.m. when they collided.
"We're not exactly sure if they were both coming back in here to Monroe Harbor or to Burnham Harbor," said Jason Lach, deputy district chief of CFD's Marine and Dive Operations. "One vessel overtook the other and there was a collision that happened."
Fire officials said one of the boats ended up on top of the other. Lach said emergency responders from CFD and the Coast Guard were on scene rapidly, and all the passengers were brought back to shore within 35 to 40 minutes.
They were about half a mile from shore, and a passenger on one of the boats made the 911 call, Lach said. Both were large boats, approximately 38 feet and 42 feet respectively, Lach said.
Four people were taken to the hospital in critical condition and nine refused medical attention entirely. Johanna Gregory, 26, was killed.
Her family is now looking for answers as to how the collision that took their daughter's life happened.
The Coast Guard said the cause of the crash remains under investigation. The Coast Guard and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources are leading that investigation, and have not yet commented on whether alcohol use or the late hour could have been factors in the collision.
