Posted: Sun, 29 May 2016 09:00 PM - 35,392 Readers

By: Eric Dexheimer

Travis County emergency responders said recreational boaters should pay extra attention to their surroundings after a second person was hit by a motorboat propeller this weekend.

A man in his 20s was taken to the hospital with serious injuries not expected to be life-threatening to an extremity after making contact with a propeller Sunday afternoon on Lake Austin near Pennybacker Bridge,said Austin-Travis County EMS Commander Mike Benavides.

He said the agency responded to the call around 6 p.m. and medics met the patient at the boat ramp near the bridge.

The incident follows another propeller strike Saturday afternoon on Lake Travis. In that incident, a woman in her 20s also suffered serious, though not life-threatening injuries after getting hit by a boat propeller near Devil’s Cove, Benavides said. EMS workers met her at Emerald Point Marina a little after 2 p.m.

Benavides said making sure swimmers are away from all sides of a boat while the motor was running is the single best prevention for such incidents, which have the potential to be deadly. “People have died from this,” he said.