Articles Posted in Boating Accidents

MIAMI, FL— August 11, 2011 – A Delaware man and his 11-year-old son were hospitalized with severe injuries in Miami after they became involved in a violent boating accident less than ten miles south of Key Largo. According to information provided by the Key West Citizen, officials from the U.S. Coast Guard, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Monroe County Sheriff’s Office are investigating what caused a 46-foot crewed charter boat to hit the father and son as they were swimming in the water, about to dive near Conch Reef.

Reports indicated 39-year-old Calvin Adkins chartered a boat from the Tavernier-based Florida Keys Dive Center and was about to go diving with his young son when the vessel’s propellers apparently struck them in the water around 9 a.m. According to FWC spokesman Bobby Dube, “They were both alive when they left here, but we heard that the son is not doing too well.” The charter vessel that hit them was called the Big Dipper.

Both of the boat accident victims were flown to Miami hospitals following the horrific incident. The father, who reportedly sustained serious injuries, was taken to Baptist Hospital for treatment, while the injured child was rushed to Miami Children’s Hospital. The 11-year-old, who suffered more serious injuries than his dad, reportedly underwent emergency surgery after the boat accident.

While the cause of the Florida boating accident remained unclear, investigations are underway.

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MIAMI, FL— August 10, 2011 – Four people, including a child, were occupying a boat that crashed into the sands of a Navarre beach and flipped over on the night of August 7. According to information provided by NWF Daily News, authorities from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) are expected to conduct a full probe into the Florida boat accident.

While no serious injuries were reported following a boating accident that occurred on the Intracoastal Waterway in the Florida Panhandle, not all boat crash victims are so fortunate. According to statistical data provided by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), a total of 736 boating deaths resulted from the 4,730 recreational boating accidents that were reported during the year 2009.

Reports indicated a total of four people, one of whom was a child, were aboard a 23-foot recreational vessel when it hit a patch of sand while traveling near the shore along the Intracoastal Waterway. The boat overturned on the sand and careened approximately 20 feet on impact, temporarily trapping passengers beneath it. The boat was allegedly traveling about 40 mph when it hid the sand around 11 p.m.

Upon speaking with Navarre Beach Firefighters, the adults involved in the watercraft accident said they were able to dig their way out and then pull the child, a young boy, out. That child was ultimately transported to Sacred Heart Hospital to be treated for minor injuries sustained in the Florida boating accident.

None of the other passengers aboard the crashed boat appeared to require medical attention. “It’s just amazing that nobody ended up seriously injured,” FWC’s public information officer Stan Kirkland added. Investigations into the boat wreck are underway.

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MIAMI, FL— August 2, 2011- Less than a month after an overcrowded riverboat capsized on the Volga River in Russia, resulting in the deaths of 122 passengers, tragedy struck aboard a second river cruise ship. According to information provided by the New York Times, nine fatalities were reported on July 31, following an unfortunate boat crash on the Moscow River.
Reports indicated 16 passengers were aboard the river cruise boat when it crashed into a barge along the river in southwest Moscow at approximately 1 a.m. While the cause of the deadly riverboat accident remained unclear, reports by the Russian news agency Interfax suggested the ship was carrying more passengers than it should have been at the time. Nine accident victims reportedly drowned as a result of the collision.
The unidentified ship captain, who was among those killed in the Moscow boat accident, had been charged with the violation of riverboat operating regulations on three separate occasions in the past.
Previous Moscow Times reports relayed by the Miami cruise ship injury attorneys of Gerson & Schwartz, who maintain that cruise ship industry reform is imperative, indicated two people were arrested in connection with the first Russian river disaster. The ship Bulgaria, which was built in 1955, sank on July 10. A total of 122 passengers, 28 of whom were children, died when the ship abruptly capsized on July 10.
Svetlana Inyakina, manager of the company that rented the Bulgaria out, and Yakov Ivashov, senior inspector for the River Register’s local office, were arrested after authorities discovered that they deemed the old ship to be “seaworthy” prior to the 122-fatality ship wreck. The River Register is the government agency that is responsible for maintaining safety within the river transport industry.
Investigations into the fatal boat accident were expected to be underway.

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MIAMI, FL—July 28, 2011 – A Boynton Beach boat operator was killed in a violent boating accident in upstate New York on June 23. The boat crash, which left two addition accident victims injured, occurred on Lake Seneca in close proximity to Watkins Glen, according to information provided by the Associated Press.

While details concerning the fatal boating accident remained scarce, officials from the Schuyler County Sheriff’s Office told reporters that an unspecified vessel slammed into a breakwall on the south side of Lake Seneca. Authorities identified the operator of the crashed boat as 42-year-old Boynton Beach man Michael Tangye.
That Florida boater lost his life in the unfortunate boat wreck, while two additional passengers, whom deputies identified as 24-year-old Ashley Kay and 25-year-old Joseph Hager, were rushed to Pennsylvania-based Robert Packer Hospital following the fatal boat accident.  As of July 25, medical staff listed the two survivors in stable condition. Investigations into the deadly boat crash are expected to be underway.

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) statistics suggested there were 668 boat accidents, resulting in 79 boating deaths and 389 injuries, reported during the year 2010. Furthermore, Florida has more boating accidents than any other state in the nation.

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MIAMI, FL— July 20, 2011 – A violent boating accident occurred in Boston Harbor on the evening of July 16, 2011, claiming the life of one passenger and leaving another seriously injured. According to information provided by the Associated Press, Massachusetts State Police (MSP) and officials from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) appear to be investigating what might have caused the speedboat involved in the fatal boat accident to abruptly overturn and capsize.

MSP spokesperson David Procopio told reporters that a 30-foot speedboat was navigating Boston Harbor, in close proximity to Boston Light, when the vessel apparently overturned and broke apart at approximately 6:15 p.m. Two unidentified passengers were apparently thrown from the speedboat when it capsized.

Reports indicated one of the accident victims suffered a head injury, while the other sustained a chest wound. One of the boat passengers succumbed to his/her traumatic injuries at the accident site. Emergency medical services (EMS) personnel apparently airlifted the second injured passenger to an unspecified hospital in Boston following the boat capsizing.

According to statistics provided by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Florida leads the U.S. in boating accidents. During the year 2010, 668 boat accidents were reported. Those incidents resulted in 79 boating deaths and left 389 victims suffering from various injuries.

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MIAMI, FL— July 6, 2011 – At least one person is dead and seven remain missing following an unfortunate boating accident that happened in the Sea of Cortez on July 3, 2011. According to information provided by the Los Angeles Times, a fishing boat occupied by 43 people, including 27 American tourists and 16 Mexican crew members, capsized during a violent storm off the coast of Mexico.

Mexican Navy personnel continue to search the waters off Baja California in an attempt to recover seven people who remained missing following the fishing boat accident. Mexican officials told reporters that 35 of the accident victims either swam miles to the shore or were rescued by fishing vessels navigating the area after the boat sank.

A spokesperson for the Mexican Navy contended search and rescue crews were utilizing planes, helicopters, and vessels to probe the area where the sport fishing boat sank. Navy personnel were also apparently searching for survivors from ashore. Thus far, local authorities have recovered the body of one man involved in the boat sinking. 
According to David Levine, who was aboard the vessel when severe weather conditions caused it to capsize, “Everybody jumped into the water… a lot of people went in with no life vest.” Nevertheless, Mexican authorities contended the search would continue on the basis that those lost at sea have a higher chance of survival due to warm water and air temperatures. Crews from the U.S. Coast Guard’s San Diego Sector joined search and rescue missions on July 4.

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MIAMI, FL— June 30, 2011 – On June 27, 2011, a South Carolina man became the second man to die in a parasailing accident in the Tampa Bay region in less than 10 months time, The Tampa Tribune reported. While Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) spokesman Gary Morse said the 31-year-old accident victim, who fell from the sky after the boat engine abruptly cut out, appeared to make a relatively soft landing on the water and even waved to signal that he was alive following the plunge, U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Peter Martin suggested that witness reports were inconsistent.
Reports indicated David Sieradzki and his wife Stephanie decided to travel from their home in South Carolina to Florida, so they could go parasailing. The company they chose to parasail with, Fun N Sun Parasail, is based on Anna Maria Island’s Bradenton Beach in Manatee County, Florida.

David and Stephanie Sieradzki boarded the Fun N Sun Parasail-operated parasail boat, named “Almost Heaven,” on the afternoon of June 27. There were a total of six boat passengers and two crew members aboard the vessel when its lower propeller allegedly experienced mechanical difficulties, causing the boat to lose speed and simultaneously causing Mr. Sieradzki, who was parasailing solo at the time, to fall approximately 800 feet from the sky.
Mrs. Sieradzki’s father, Bud Hazel apparently talked to reporters via telephone, relaying what his daughter said of the fatal accident. “He got up in the air, and then the boat engine died, and Dave came down… And they had to pull him into the boat. By the time he got into the boat, he was dead. They tried 20 to 30 minutes to revive him, but he was gone,” Hazel contended.
What caused the parasailer to die remains unknown, though autopsy results are pending and investigations into the Florida parasailing accident are ongoing.

The fatal accident spurred parasailing safety advocates such as ex-parasail operator and Parasail Safety Council chairman Mark McCulloh to stress the need for improvements in the parasailing industry. “After all these incidents, I can’t believe we haven’t gotten smarter as an industry… Their argument is, we don’t want the government snooping in our business.”
To protect future parasailers from potentially harmful (or sometimes even deadly) events on the water, towline and equipment inspections should be mandated, just as maximum wind speed and altitude constraints should be implemented, McCulloh told reporters. 

According to the non-profit Parasail Safety Council, more than 380 parasailing accidents occurred between 1990 and September of 2009, claiming the lives of 22 accident victims throughout the nation.

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