Two Chicago women were severely injured Saturday (August 13) in a boating accident on Lake Michigan, according to NBC 5 Chicago.

The two women, aged 28 and 34, were floating on a raft in the lake's "Playpen" area when a boat backed into them, "sucking them right underneath he boat," according to Art Pachnik of the Chicago Police Department's Marnie Unit. One of the women sustained injuries to her hand, while the other had both of her feet severed due to the collision.

Authorities revealed a licenses captain tried to anchor a rental boat when the anchor device malfunctioned. That's when the boat began to drift. As the captain was maneuvering the boat, he ran over the floating raft when the two women on it. There were six-to-eight individuals on the flotation raft in total at the time of the incident.

"It was strange to see someone backing up,” Ted Widen, an AMP Boat representative who was out on the lake, said. “You just don’t back up through the ‘Playpen.’ You know people are swimming everywhere. It’s a dangerous thing, and you know nothing good is going to come of it.”

Both women were taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition.

The WGCI Morning Show