Seattle woman loses leg in Tracyton boating accident

A 45-year-old Seattle woman was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in serious condition Saturday afternoon after her right leg was cut off by a boat propellor near the Tracyton boat launch in Dyes Inlet.

Kitsap County Sheriff's deputies and Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue crews responded to the 5400 block of Tracyton Boulevard in Bremerton at about 2:20 p.m. Saturday.

The woman and her 48-year-old husband drove their 20-foot Sea Ray, with an inboard-outboard motor, across the water from Seattle to visit family who live in Tracyton. The couple tied the boat up to a buoy and came ashore in a dingy, said Deputy Scott Wilson, Kitsap County Sheriff's Office spokesman.

When the couple decided to head back to Seattle, the man jumped in the dingy and headed out to the Sea Ray. He pulled the boat in closer to shore and his wife, who was standing in 2 or 3 feet of water, began handing items to her husband on the boat.

When the woman tried to climb aboard using a swimmer's step on the back of the boat, she slipped and fell back into the water. Her right leg got caught in the turning propellor and the blades severed her leg below the knee, Wilson said.

Wilson said deputies initially could not locate the severed leg, but eventually found it and sent the badly damaged limb to the Seattle hospital with the woman.

The woman was taken to Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton before being airlifted to Harborview Medical Center.

Sheriff's deputies believe the incident was an accident and alcohol was not a factor, Wilson said.

The woman remains in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center.

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