PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A man is suing a dive boat charter company following an accident that left his wife dead.
According to the Palm Beach Post, Sean Flynn of Melbourne filed the suit against Florida Scuba Charters on Friday in U.S. District Court. His 37-year-old wife, Mollie Ghiz-Flynn, died during a dive trip in March.
Ghiz-Flynn and her husband had finished their first dive and were waved over to the boat. But, the suit alleges, the dive boat operator put the engines in reverse, and both divers were sucked under, with Ghiz-Flynn becoming entangled in the propellors.
Sean Flynn struggled to free his wife, and another diver and a crew member jumped into the water. They were able to pull Ghiz-Flynn free and bring her onto the boat.
Flynn “watched in horror the futile efforts to save his wife,” Miami lawyer Carol L. Finklehoffe wrote in the lawsuit.
A Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office report later concluded Ghiz-Flynn died of drowning and “chop wounds.” The report said investigators were told the boat was in rough current and a wave lifted the vessel and pushed Ghiz-Flynn underneath.
According to the lawsuit, March 29 marked only the second day — and just the third time — that Florida Scuba had operated the 32-year-old, 48-foot, twin-engine boat. In two dives on March 28, the lawsuit says, McCabe had mechanical trouble and, because he was new to the boat, had difficulty maneuvering it.
The owners of Florida Scuba Charters did not respond to the newspaper for comment.
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