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Arlington Heights siblings recovering from boating accident

Two children from Arlington Heights are recovering at a northern Wisconsin hospital after being injured in a boating accident, authorities said Friday.

The 12-year-old girl and her 11-year-old brother were on an inner tube being pulled by a ski boat Thursday afternoon when they struck the side of a pontoon boat on Little Star Lake in the Town of Manitowish Waters.

Tim Ebert, a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources conservation warden who responded to the scene, said the children fell off the tube, but were wearing life jackets. The extent of their injuries was not disclosed, but Ebert said he doesn't believe the injuries are life-threatening.

DNR authorities are investigating whether there was an equipment failure with the 18-foot ski boat the children's inner tube line was attached to, Ebert said. Authorities will be investigating the cause of the crash over the coming days and weeks, he added.

There was no damage to either boat.

Little Star Lake, located about 350 miles north of Arlington Heights, sits within a chain of lakes in Wisconsin's Northwoods, a popular vacation spot for Chicago-area residents. The 245-acre lake is a common recreation spot for tourists.

"Especially this time of year, you get boaters and water skiing," said Kyle Vukovich, who works at the lakeside Little Bohemia Lodge. "It's always steady, especially if it's a nice day."

The boat crash was reported at 2:20 p.m. Thursday, when skies were sunny and temperatures in the 80s. Vukovich said local authorities arrived at the restaurant's parking lot to gain access to the lake. An ambulance transported both children to Howard Young Medical Center in Woodruff.

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