LAKE VERMILION- Nighttime darkness, speed, and alcohol are believed to have contributed to a pontoon boat accident on Lake Vermilion the evening on Sept. 16, according to a news release from the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office.
Area fire, ambulance, and law enforcement from Tower, Greenwood, Virginia, and St. Louis County responded to reports that a pontoon boat crashed into Rainbow Island, located in Daisy Bay, throwing a female passenger to the shore.
First responders located a female passenger who had been thrown from the boat and provided medical assistance until she could be transported to shore by Greenwood First Responders.  The passenger was subsequently transported to the Virginia hospital, via Tower Ambulance, with non-life-threatening injuries.  The driver of the boat was also transported to shore by Greenwood First Responders in their second rescue boat, and then transported by ambulance to the Virginia hospital for treatment of his non-threatening injuries.
Names of both parties are being withheld pending family notification and the ongoing investigation.  Both parties were from the Twin Cities metro area and were visiting the area on vacation. 
Rainbow Island is a string of granite rocks in Daisy Bay, but is called Banana Island on some maps. Robert Fox, of Iowa City, Iowa, bought the island in 1988 from the son of the original cabin owner, through a state auction. Fox said the original owners always called it Rainbow Island, and he is unsure why it is designated as Banana Island on some maps. There is a single cabin, sauna, and boathouse on the 4-1/2-acre island. Fox, who was not at the cabin at that time, said he was told the boat driver was coming from Vermilion Club at full throttle in the dark, and ran the boat right up on the island. The pontoon boat reportedly sustained serious damage.
The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Tower Fire Department, Tower Ambulance service, the Greenwood Fire Department and EMS, the Virginia Fire Department and ALS, and the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office and Rescue Squad.