Wakeboarder severs fingers in lake accident

NORDMAN - A 30-year-old man lost four fingers in a wakeboarding accident on Priest Lake on Saturday.

"He somehow got his fingers entwined in the (tow) rope," said Bob Abbott, a spokesman for Bonner County EMS.

Dispatchers received a call at 6:15 p.m. from a party reporting that the man's fingers were severed from his hand and that they were en route to Hill's Resort at Luby Bay.

"The fingers were not retrievable," said Abbott, adding that the victim's fingers were severed at the first knuckle.

The victim and paramedics rendezvoused with a Life Flight helicopter at the U.S. Forest Service airstrip at Hanna Flats and he was flown to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Abbott said.

"Even if there's no reconstruction or reattachment to be done, the bone ends can die," said Abbott. "It will require vascular microsurgery after a certain period of time."

The man's name and hometown were not disclosed.