Teen Dies After Florida Keys Boating Accident that Injured 11

A boating accident in the Florida Keys left a teenager dead and 10 other people injured, according to local media.

The Miami Herald reported that Lucy Fernandez, a 17-year-old high school senior from Miami, was among 14 people on a motorboat that crashed into a channel marker Sunday evening. Four of the injured were airlifted to a hospital, and Fernandez later died.

Officials with the U.S. Coast Guard said the boat hit a channel marker and capsized. The crash happened before 7 p.m. in the Intracoastal Waterway in Biscayne Bay, about 10 miles south of Boca Chita. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is the lead agency investigating the crash.

The accident is the latest of several deadly incidents in the Florida Keys in recent months, according to news reports. Authorities have said the injuries have to do with an area known as a tropical paradise, but also for its partying, dangerous waters and a medical system that isn’t equipped to handle the most serious trauma, the Herald has reported.

The issues came into sharp focus on Memorial Day, when an Illinois mother and two children were parasailing. High winds may have prompted the boat operator to release the rope line, sending the parasailers crashing into a bridge, killing the mom.

Bad weather kept a medical helicopter grounded, and the 120-mile long Keys islands have just three small hospitals to treat patients.

A week earlier, a Texas man was killed after the boat he was in hit a concrete power line pole and passengers were ejected into the water. The boat continued to run in circles, and nearby boaters pulled the people out of its path, the Herald reported.

Photo: Rescue officials at the scene of a boat crash near Boca Chita Key on Sunday. (Miami-Dade Fire Rescue via AP)

Topics Florida