A man who witnessed a fatal personal watercraft crash on Lake St. Clair says it was shocking and heartbreaking.
Windsor resident Marco Malizia, who was renting a trailer for a mini-vacation, told CK News Today he saw the whole tragic collision that happened on Lake St. Clair on Thursday afternoon. He said he tried to warn the girls they were coming too close to the steel breakwall protecting homes along the shoreline on Couture Beach in Lakeshore, just west of Lighthouse Cove, but it was too late. The vessel struck the breakwall at full speed, he said, tossing one of the girls into the air.
Malizia said the watercraft was pulling an inflatable tube, and the girls didn't see it coming.
"They were pulling an inner tube, and she was looking back at the inner tube and didn't realize how close she was in, and she came in at too much of an angle and hit the steel rail," Malizia said.
Malizia said he and other neighbours jumped in immediately to rescue the girls while his family, and the owner of the property, Barb Pyatt, called 9-1-1.
"I went in the water and pulled the first girl towards the stairs over there. The other neighbours on this side, they helped lift her up, while I grabbed the second girl and brought her towards the stairs," said Malizia, adding he wishes he could have done more.
Malizia said CPR was started right away and that his daughter flagged down the ambulance. He also wishes the injured girls recover.
Malizia said he was just finishing up lunch with his wife, Marie, and daughter, Gracie, and was thinking about renting a jet ski until the crash happened.
Malizia's wife, Marie Pusz, was still very emotional, telling CK News Today, as a mother, it was devastating to watch, adding that her family is praying for the families of the victims.
"What if it was your own child and something like that happened to your child? You wouldn't wish that upon anybody. Those were little girls, they were so little," Pusz lamented.
Malizia's daughter, Gracie, is 12 years old and believes the start of school in two weeks will be very tough for the victims' friends and classmates.
The crash killed a 17-year-old girl from Essex County and injured three other girls.
A 16-year-old girl was transported to hospital and then airlifted to a trauma centre with life-threatening injuries.
Ontario Provincial Police also reported that two more girls, 15 and 17 years old, were transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The Malizia family doesn't know the victims.
The OPP haven't released any names yet.