A 47-year-old father and his 9-year-old son died Tuesday night after their personal watercraft (PWC) crashed into a seawall in a Boot Key Harbor canal, multiple officials told the Weekly on Aug. 14.
At press time, officials had yet to release the names of the individuals. The father was pronounced dead at the scene after being thrown over the watercraft’s handlebars and roughly 20 feet onto land after the collision, Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay told the Weekly. Bystanders reportedly helped the son, who was thrown into the water, onto land before MCSO deputies arrived.
While en route to Miami Children’s Hospital on Trauma Star, the son went into cardiac arrest, later passing away at Mariners Hospital in Tavernier following an emergency landing, Ramsay said.
The crash occurred just before 7 p.m., with the 250-horsepower Yamaha GP 1800 race-model watercraft traveling north in the canal toward Castaway Waterfront Restaurant. There are conflicting reports of the craft’s speed before the accident, with some reports saying that the vessel was speeding through the canals, while others said the watercraft had maintained a reasonable speed in the no-wake zone until just before the accident.
“It didn’t look like there was any effort to stop,” Ramsay said, “but there are no reports of alcohol, and we don’t believe alcohol was involved, as far as we can tell.”
Early reports indicated the son may have been seated in front of the father on the watercraft, though both Ramsay and FWC Capt. David Dipre clarified that they were unsure if this was the case.
“We don’t know who was at the controls,” Ramsay said.
“I haven’t seen the video myself, but it appears that’s a possibility,” Dipre said. “We know they accelerated, but whether it was operator error or a mechanical error, we don’t know.”
Castaway owner John Mirabella told the Weekly that video cameras outside his restaurant had captured the moments leading up to the crash, but not the incident itself, saying the PWC appeared to accelerate just before leaving the frame of his camera.
Dipre said the father and son were living part-time in both the Keys and Miami and were planning a move to the Keys.
“It was a chaotic scene, but definitely a strong partnership between us, fire rescue and FWC trying to save these people’s lives, unfortunately to no avail,” Ramsay said.
“It’s terrible,” Dipre said.
