Woman's body pulled from Lake Stevens after boat sinks

The body of a 48-year-old Lake Stevens woman was found in 50 feet of water just before 3 p.m. Sunday after an hours-long search that began late Saturday when the 20-foot ski boat the woman was piloting sank in Lake Stevens, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.

The victim's body and her boat were located with the help of the Seattle Police Department's dive-rescue team, which used sonar equipment to find the vessel, sheriff's Lt. Steve Dittoe wrote in a news release Sunday. The woman's body was turned over to officials with the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office. Her name had not yet been released Sunday afternoon.

At 9:30 p.m. Saturday, the sheriff's water-rescue team, along with rescuers from the Coast Guard, U.S. Air Force and local police and fire agencies, responded to the south end of Lake Stevens and searched for the woman for two hours, Lt. Rodney Rochon said in a news release issued early Sunday.

By the time rescuers arrived at the scene, nine other people who were aboard the boat had made it safely to shore, Rochon wrote in the release. They told rescuers they tried to get to the boat's driver but couldn't, he said. The woman was piloting a 20-foot ski boat with a wakeboard tower.

At 11:35 p.m., the search switched from a rescue operation to a recovery mission, Rochon wrote. The search was called off at 12:30 a.m. Sunday and resumed at daybreak, he said.

Rochon said in his release that since the investigation is ongoing, officials won't speculate as to whether drugs or alcohol were involved or whether the boat was overloaded when it sank.