Couple Injured In Boat Crash Off Dinner Key Marina
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A couple is recovering after they were involved in a hit and run crash on the water Saturday evening.
Miami Fire Rescue said around 11 p.m. they received a call from a woman in distress. She said she was on 13-foot Boston Whaler when they were hit by another boat.
"As they were approaching about two and a half miles out they were struck by another boat. Now this boat came out of nowhere," said Miami Fire Rescue spokesman Lt. Ignatius Carroll.
The woman said from the crash the impact knocked her boyfriend unconscious and he was bleeding from the head. She added that they were coming back from Nixon Beach and were headed for Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove.
In a call to 911, the woman told the dispatcher she had no idea where they were
Woman: "Oh God, I'm shaking, Oh God."
Dispatcher: "Do you have a GPS?"
Woman: "Yeah, but we got it so I don't know where it is."
The urged the dispatcher to tell crews to hurry because their boat was taking on water. Because of the condition of the boat and their injuries, the woman said she wouldn't be able to send up a flare. To make matters worse, the boat's lights were knocked out.
It was a race against time for rescue crews to find the small boat.
"Fire Rescue lined up from the Rickenbacker Causeway all the way to Peacock Park with emergency lights trying to provide some kind of marker or a landmark for her to see and give that information to us," said Carroll.
Eventually a helicopter spotted the small sinking craft and boat crew came to the couple's rescue.
When rescue crews arrived they found an unconscious man in serious condition and woman, who was in shock, was also injured.
"She was doing this all by herself so we commend her for her actions," said Carroll. "If it wasn't for her keeping it together they probably would have been out there still."
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has launched an investigation into the accident.
