A 23-year-old Bedford County woman was seriously injured Sunday when her personal watercraft collided with a pontoon boat on Smith Mountain Lake.

The crash occurred about 5 p.m. at channel marker 27-A, just south of Hales Ford Bridge, said Karl Martin, district supervisor for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries' conservation police.

A paramedic who was in the area heard the crash and treated the woman at the scene, Martin said. She was later airlifted to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Neither the name of the woman nor her condition was available late Sunday.

Police are still investigating, Martin said.

Conservation police, Coast Guard officers and volunteer fire and rescue crews beefed up patrols and safety inspections for the Memorial Day weekend, the traditional opening of boating season.

-- Tonia Moxley