San Diego

A 10-year-old boy remained in critical condition Monday after he drove a Jet Ski between a speedboat and a water skier on Mission Bay and the skier’s tow rope hit him in the neck Sunday.

Witnesses said Thomas Ready was riding the Jet Ski when he cut toward a passing powerboat, which had a water skier in tow. As the youth passed, he was “clotheslined” by the tow rope, according to lifeguard Becky Sox.

A lifeguard pulled Ready to shore with the help of people aboard the boat and applied cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics arrived.

A doctor attending a picnic at Crown Point performed an emergency tracheotomy on the boy before he was rushed to Sharp Memorial Hospital, Sox said.

Ready was later transferred to Children’s Hospital, where a spokeswoman said he was on life-support equipment.