Wow. Sad day for some families....

[tx1961whaler]

5 Dead, 9 Hurt In Boating Accident
POSTED: Sunday, April 12, 2009
UPDATED: 10:32 pm EDT April 12, 2009


PALM VALLEY, Fla. -- Five people were killed and seven others transported to area hospitals after a boat hit a tugboat in the Intracoastal Waterway in St. Johns County early Sunday evening.
According to St. Johns County Fire-Rescue spokesman Jeremy Robshaw, a 22-foot boat with 12 people on board hit a 25-foot tub boat in the Intracoastal Waterway near the 200 block of Roscoe Boulevard -- about one mile north of the Palm Valley Bridge -- just after 7 p.m.
All those injured were transported to Jacksonville-area hospitals -- the three most seriously injured transported by air ambulance.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the tug was unoccupied and tied up to a barge at a work site where a dock and boat lift are under construction.
St. Johns County Sheriff's deputies -- the first responders to the scene -- had to remove plywood from the partially completed house at the site to reach the end of the partially-completed dock to get to the victims.
The names and ages of the victims were not made available Sunday night. There was also no word on whether they were wearing life vests or how fast the boat was traveling.
The FWC, which was leading the investigation, questioned one witness and was seeking others. They said among there questions were why 14 people were on a 22-foot boat and whether the owner was among those on board.
"You see tragedies occur from time to time, but this is a pretty significant thing," Robshaw told Channel 4.

 

[TWFisher]

Re: Wow. Sad day for some families....

Very scarry.

I have a friend who always tells me to never boat on holidays.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Wow. Sad day for some families....

We had one here in the New Orleans area too. A young guy stopped at a bar along a river that runs into Lake Ponchartrain and then proceeded to drive the boat home in the dark. We have had flooding here and there was quite a bit of runoff, with plenty of logs, etc. in the water. The boater was driving in the dark at high speed and hit a bridge piling. His body was recovered yesterday.

Drinking, high speed on a river in the dark during a period of known obstructions, no PFD .... the story just seems to repeat itself over and over. How do you protect people from themselves?

 

[lowkee]

Re: Wow. Sad day for some families....

"5 Dead, 9 Hurt In Boating Accident"...

"a 22-foot boat with 12 people on board"...

"among there questions were why 14 people were on a 22-foot boat"

"You see tragedies occur from time to time, but this is a pretty significant thing," Robshaw told Channel 4.

He must have been talking about journalist math skills.

I'm guessing alcamahol or Florida public schools were involved.

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Wow. Sad day for some families....

A tragic event. And I'll venture guaranteed preventable. What's JB's term for it? Premeditated negligence??
"were why 14 people were on a 22-foot boat" Seems like an overloaded craft at first glance, but not knowing the boat type it's hard to tell. Here's a 22 footer that advertises 13 passenger capacity. There are also Pontoon boats in that length range rated up to 16 passengers.
Any way you look at it it's a terrible loss to some ones family, or family's.

 

[dbkerley]

Re: Wow. Sad day for some families....

A 17' went down yesterday about 20 yards from the ramp at Sardis. The guy was coming in with moderate winds and turned in too soon causing his boat to ground on the sand bar that serves as a breaker.

When he tried to back off, he pushed the starboard aft corner under an incoming wave and it was over. He caught a ride in on another boat. However, his boat became a total loss after the wind drove it off the bar and it flipped upon drifting to deeper water.

My wife was surprised by how quickly he sank (5 seconds or less). A 17' low sided jon boat in yesterday's weather was like bringing a knife to a gun fight. He only made one handling mistake when trying to back off the bar and lost it all. The other contributing factors were poor judgement in taking the boat out to begin with and poor navigation which brought him onto the sand bar.

No alcohol was involoved. Purely weather and experience. Poor guy said he had just made the last payment this month.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Wow. Sad day for some families....

it appears there was alcohol involved as they had left a party and on their way back to Jacksonville, via the ICW, the owner was onboard, and injured. it was still light enough to navigate. apparently no one was paying attention, as they had come extremely close to several other docks, before hitting the the tug.

here are more reports. http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/default.aspx?menuid=370

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Wow. Sad day for some families....

it appears there was alcohol involved ....

Really? Who would have guessed that?.....

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Wow. Sad day for some families....

Over loaded on al-key-hall, speed, and passengers .....................22 foot Crownline Bowrider, max capacity 10 people three strikes .

Someones going to jail for this one.

 

[Shizzy]

Re: Wow. Sad day for some families....

thats very sad. Hitting a large stationary object makes no sence at all.

 

[AZSenza]

Re: Wow. Sad day for some families....

Its my guess no one was actually at the controls.

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Wow. Sad day for some families....

Its my guess no one was actually at the controls.

I'm thinking ............"Hold my beer and watch this".........

 

[tallcanadian]

Re: Wow. Sad day for some families....

what a tragic start to the season. the sad thing is only hear a fraction of the tragic boat stories. so sad. unfortunately, these are the reason why i have to take a safe boating course this year.