Girl hurt in boat grounding

A 16-year-old Carroll County girl was injured yesterday afternoon when the 34-foot power boat on which she was a passenger ran aground on Rhode River in Anne Arundel County, causing her to fall and strike her head, authorities said.

Sgt. Ken Turner of the Department of Natural Resources Police said Matthew Loiacono, 42, of Owings, Anne Arundel County, was piloting the watercraft up the river with five passengers onboard and nearing High Island about 1:35 p.m, some 2,500 yards from property owned by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, when it struck a portion of the island that was not visible.

He said the girl, a Mount Airy resident whose name was not released, was in the boat's cabin and that the impact caused her to lose her balance and strike her head on the cabin's interior. There were no other injuries and the boat remained upright, he said.

Battalion Chief Matthew Tobia, a county Fire Department spokesman, said the first call went to the U.S. Coast Guard, who notified county authorities and the DNR police.

Tobia said a county fire boat that responded to the scene took the girl ashore to Contee's Wharf Road, about a half-mile from the accident scene, where she was tended to by county medics before she was airlifted to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore by a state police helicopter, along with a woman believed to be a relative.

Tobia said the girl suffered serious injuries but was expected to survive.

In all, 27 firefighters, medics, two fire boats and the helicopter responded to the emergency call.

Turner said the DNR police are investigating the accident and that alcohol was not a contributing factor.