Four Hospitalized After Boat Crash in Florida Keys Waters

Four people were hospitalized after a recreational boat struck a channel marker off Tavernier in the Upper Keys around 4:45 p.m. Friday, Monroe County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Kristen Livengood said. Six people were aboard the vessel when it hit the marker and all were ejected into the water, Livengood said.

“Good Samaritan” boaters in two vessels pulled people from the water and helped get them to shore, Livengood said. The county’s Trauma Star helicopter ambulance airlifted two patients to Jackson South Medical Center in Miami-Dade County, and two others were treated at Mariners Hospital in Tavernier, Livengood said. Two additional people on the boat refused medical treatment at the scene, she added.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that four people were hospitalized following the crash and that local and county fire-rescue units responded alongside Marathon Fire Rescue crews. Marathon Fire Rescue paramedics treated injured people at the scene before Trauma Star flights to the mainland, Livengood said.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has opened an investigation into the crash, agency spokeswoman Arielle Callender said. Callender also noted that other boaters in the area assisted victims: “Other boaters in the area picked the people from the water and took them to land.” She added that authorities are treating the matter as an active investigation: “This is an active investigation, no additional information is available at this time.”

Separate reporting and agency logs indicate at least one other Keys collision occurred this weekend near the Seven Mile Bridge. FWC spokeswoman Arielle Callender said a 1976 Mako center-console collided with the Seven Mile Bridge around 2:20 p.m. Saturday; seven people were aboard that vessel and several were thrown into the water. Marathon Fire Rescue and Monroe County Fire Rescue’s Trauma Star were also listed as responders to that incident, and victims were airlifted to Miami-Dade hospitals for additional care.

As of the latest release from county officials, the conditions of the hospitalized people from the Tavernier crash have not been publicly detailed. Investigators with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and marine units from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office continue to assemble incident reports, interview witnesses and review vessel information to determine the cause of the collision.