One man killed, several injured in Lake Vermilion boating accident

Jeremy Brandson Johnson, 53, of Eveleth, died after a boating crash on Lake Vermilion near Manbeck Island in Beatty Township threw multiple people into the water Tuesday evening. Three other people were hurt, and one was flown to a Duluth hospital.

The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office said the call came in at 6:22 p.m. to the 3600 block of Black Bay Road. Ambulances from Cook, Tower, Virginia and Orr responded, along with the Lake Vermilion Fire Brigade, the St. Louis County Rescue Squad and the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office. A fourth person involved in the crash was pronounced dead at the scene after life-saving efforts were unsuccessful.

The cause remains under investigation, but Lake Vermilion’s geography helps explain why water emergencies there can escalate quickly. The Minnesota DNR describes the lake as a 40,557-acre Canadian Shield waterway with boulder-strewn, rocky shorelines and shallow bays, and says it is the fifth largest lake entirely within Minnesota. Deadly boating incidents there are not without precedent: a 2011 Lake Vermilion accident involved seven people in a 14-foot boat that swamped and sank rapidly, killing a 29-year-old Virginia man.

State safety officials are using the crash to reinforce familiar warnings. The DNR’s 2026 boating guide says life jackets save lives, urges boaters to stay sober, watch the weather, go slow in rough water and take a boating safety course, and says alcohol is the number one factor in boating fatalities. The new boater education law that took effect July 1, 2025, requires some adults and youth operating motorboats and personal watercraft to have a valid watercraft operator’s permit. Minnesota recorded 8 fatal watercraft accidents in 2024, resulting in 9 deaths.