On Tuesday afternoon, a boat with three people on board crashed a few miles off Black Point Marina. This prompted a response from both officials and nearby individuals willing to help.
The incident happened a little after 2 p.m., about 2 1/2 miles northeast of the marina.
We currently don’t have information about what caused the crash.
As per photojournalist Ralph Rayburn, quick-thinking individuals who came to the rescue managed to save all three occupants from the water.
We don’t know the identities or conditions of the victims yet, and we’re not sure how many people were injured.
7Skyforce provided aerial coverage of the situation while emergency response teams from different agencies, including the Marine Patrol, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, and Miami-Dade Police Department, arrived.
In video footage from 7Skyforce, we saw a rescue official giving CPR to one of the individuals. There was also a damaged boat believed to be the one carrying the three people.
One seriously injured person was taken to the hospital by air rescue. The other two victims on board were put on stretchers and also brought to the hospital, but they seemed to be alright.
According to a friend of a witness who spoke off camera to 7News, he was on the water, saw a splash, went towards the boat, and saw it spinning. He mentioned that he helped the three people on board and pulled one person out of the water.
Another witness, Kenneth Rodriguez, was on a different boat that stopped to help the trio.
“As we’re coming back towards Black Point and the bay, we saw a boat spinning in circles, and usually that’s not a good sign,” Kenneth Rodriguez stated.
Rodriguez was on the water and quickly sensed a problem. He mentioned that another boat was already assisting, and he did his best to help as well.
“We gave them water, we just checked up, we just waited until the police came,” he said.
On Tuesday night, investigators removed the broken boat from the water, finding scattered pieces of the vessel.
Rodriguez said that “They said that they lost control, lost power, lost steering.”
Kenneth, as investigators keep searching for the cause, mentioned that he’s unsure about what happened. However, he emphasizes the importance of staying safe on the water.
“I highly recommend everyone wear their lanyard for their kill switch and have all your safety equipment on board,” he said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is looking into the accident.
