MIAMI (WSVN) - Rescue crews airlifted one person to the hospital after a speedboat flipped over in Biscayne Bay, throwing the victim into the water.
City of Miami Fire Rescue, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and Miami Police responded to the scene near the Rickenbacker Causeway, Sunday morning.
A witness who identified herself as Tiffany watched the 30-foot vessel abruptly overturn from Crandon Park Marina in Key Biscayne.
“It was going really fast, and it must have hit a big wind or something,” she said. “Once it hit, it just flipped over, and it did a whole 360 flip.”
“There was only one person to our knowledge that was ejected from the vessel and recovered by good Samaritans,” said Miami Fire Rescue firefighter David Duthil. “There are no reports of any other passengers on the vessel.”
As passing boaters called for help, Tiffany said she initially wasn’t certain whether the victim suffered injuries.
“We weren’t sure if they were hurt or not, but like, two minutes later, you see the Coast Guard and you see the ambulance and the helicopters flying by,” she said.
Paramedics airlifted the victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital with injuries that were serious but not life-threatening.
“My City of Miami fire boat took over patient care and transferred [the victim] to a Miami-Dade County helicopter for transport to [Ryder] Trauma Center,” said Duthil.”
Tiffany said go-fast boats are a common sight in the area, but she’d never seen one crash.
“We always see these cigarette boats go by, and they’re always going fast,” she said. “I don’t think anything of it, but I’m always thinking that’s very unsafe and that they know what they’re getting into before they do it, and it’s sad that they get hurt, that they know that that could happen, but yet they don’t realize until it actually does happen for them. Now they’re hurt, you know, and they could be in critical condition … and I hope to God that they’re not hurt. I really hope that they’re OK, ’cause that was really hard to see. It really hurt my feelings, seeing all that happening.”
As of early Monday morning, the victim’s condition was unknown.
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