Boat Collision Off of Dinner Key

[Bobcat]

MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Two people are dead and two victims are missing after a boat collided off Dinner Key Saturday morning, according to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Coast Guard crews were able to rescue several others and bring them ashore. They were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital and Mercy Hospital.
Officials received notification from a boater on a 36-foot pleasure craft saying his boat was hit by another pleasure craft. His boat was taking on water and several people were in the water with injuries.
The man also said the vessel that struck his boat did not stop after the collision.
Commercial crews were able to find the boat they believed to be involved in the wreck. There were two unconscious women aboard the 32-foot vessel.
When Coast Guard crews contacted the owner of the boat which allegedly hit the vessel, officials were informed, the owner’s son had taken the vessel out Friday evening.
Crews continue to search for the missing boater and any other possible passengers.
The conditions of the injured boaters are not known at this time. FWC officials continue to investigation the cause of the collision.

 

[Serious News]

4 confirmed dead in Fla. boat collision

MIAMI (AP) — Three boats collided near a Miami marina around the end of a fireworks display, killing four and injuring a dozen others in a chaotic scene that left bodies and survivors tossed overboard.

Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the crash Friday night near the Dinner Key Marina in Miami, with officers plucking several people out of the water. The boaters are believed to have been out celebrating the Fourth of July holiday.

Rescuers were alerted by one of the boaters at about 10:45 p.m. He said he'd been hit by another vessel and that his 36-foot pleasure craft was taking on water, authorities said.

"We kept getting report after report of more people in the water," Miami Fire Rescue Lt. Ignatius Carroll said.

Eight people were initially transported to Miami hospitals. Two of them, man and a woman, later died. Relatives of a third victim found her body in the water on Saturday, and a fourth body was located later by investigators, authorities said.

The victims' names and ages weren't immediately released.

"My understanding is they may have been out there enjoying the fireworks display, and typically after the fireworks are over, everyone makes a mad dash for the nearest marina," said Jorge Pino, a public information officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

However, Pino cautioned that the exact circumstances were still under investigation.

Carroll recounted how anxious relatives waited for news of their loved ones at the dock. One man, he recalled, worried about his two grandchildren. Both arrived safely to shore.

"We were relieved to be able to let him know that they were OK," Carroll said.


http://news.msn.com/us/4-confirmed-dead-in-fla-boat-collision

 

[Serious News]

Safe boating efforts build after tragic crash on July 4th.

There’s momentum building to how recreational boating can be made safer after the tragic Fourth of July crash on Biscayne Bay.
By Sue Cocking
scocking@MiamiHerald.com

Since the Fourth of July boating crash on Biscayne Bay — the worst in Miami-Dade County in recent memory — members of the recreational boating community have launched an informal but passionate campaign to try to prevent similar tragedies.

Four people died and several others were seriously hurt when a 32-foot Contender broadsided a 36-foot Carrera, then struck a Boston Whaler following holiday fireworks. The skipper of the Contender, 23-year-old Andrew Garcia and two of his passengers, Kelsie Karpiak, 24, and Victoria Dempsey, 20, were killed, along with Carrera passenger Jason Soleimani, 23.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is in charge of the investigation, said evidence of alcohol was found aboard the Contender. No charges have been filed.

The accident happened about 10:30 p.m. off Coconut Grove’s Dinner Key, despite a heavy on-water law enforcement presence. Witnesses described a chaotic scene, as hundreds of boats zig-zagged across the bay in a race to reach local boat ramps and marinas after the fireworks.

Veteran Miami sportfishing captains Bric Peeples and Terry Claus are friends of the families of the accident victims. Both are parents of young adults and both are on a mission of prevention.

“What we have now isn’t working,” Peeples said. “I’m tired of people having to bury their kids.”

Added Claus: “I don’t feel safe out there. It’s a free-for-all.”

The two have taken to Facebook with their manifestos for safer boating in Biscayne Bay, which have garnered hundreds of “likes.” Peeples has enlisted the help of local maritime attorney Bruce Marx and Washington, D.C., boating and fishing lobbyist Jim Donofrio. Claus says he is contacting representatives of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and members of the Miami-Dade County Commission.

Tops on their safe boating wish list: a night-time speed limit or idle-only zone on bay waters from Stiltsville to Government Cut.

“That’s the easiest and fastest solution to this,” Claus said. “It’s like a manatee zone. If you can do things to protect manatees, why not to protect human life?”

The two captains also are calling for mandatory licensing and on-water education for recreational boaters; harsh penalties for boating under the influence; a change in lighting requirements for recreational boats so that skippers can easily discern approaching vessels from the bright lights of Miami; and a daytime idle-only zone around the popular Mashta Flats sandbar off Key Biscayne where boaters anchor and party on weekends and holidays.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/12/4232679/safe-boating-efforts-build-after.html#storylink=cpy

 

[Ratickle]

We were talking yesterday and the day before in Boyne about how people should have boat driving tests and licenses......

 

[Bobcat]

Just one more way for the G to get in your wallet...and your life.

 

[Ratickle]

That's the down side, but there has to be a way to keep total idiots off the water. Just because you can afford, or borrow, a boat doesn't make you a competent captain....