© 2026

For assistance accessing the Online Public File for KAXE or KBXE, please contact: Steve Neu, IT Engineer, at 800-662-5799.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

1 dead, 3 injured after boat crash on west end of Lake Vermilion

A St. Louis County Sheriff's patrol vehicle is parked at the Kabotegama Lake Visitor Center in Voyageurs National Park.
Contributed
/
St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay Facebook page
A St. Louis County Sheriff's patrol vehicle is parked at the Kabotegama Lake Visitor Center in Voyageurs National Park.

The crash occurred Tuesday evening, May 12, 2026, near Manbeck Island, northeast of Cook.

COOK — One person is dead and three are injured after a boat crash Tuesday, May 12, on the west end of Lake Vermilion.

The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office and others responded to a reported boat collision around 6:30 p.m. on Black Bay Road, about 7 miles northeast of Cook.

The crash occurred near Manbeck Island, and numerous people were thrown from boats into the water, a sheriff's office news release stated.

One individual was pronounced dead after the scene after life-saving efforts were unsuccessful. Three others were transported via ambulance, with one then airlifted to a Duluth hospital.

The cause of the crash is under investigation. The name of the person killed has not been released as of Wednesday morning, as authorities work to notify family.

Cook, Tower, Virginia and Orr ambulances; Lake Vermilion Fire Brigade, St. Louis County Rescue Squad and the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office assisted in the response.

Chelsey Perkins
/
KAXE
More than 350 educators and community members assembled along Oak Street to call attention to the unsettled union contracts ahead of the May 11, 2026, School Board meeting.

Creative Commons License
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.