MIAMI (WSVN) - Several passengers are taking legal action against a tour boat company after a collision on the water out of Bayside sent 13 people to the hospital.
The collision happened on Feb. 11, miles away from PortMiami. Several agencies, including Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, units with City of Miami Fire Rescue, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard responded to the scene.
According to MDFR, two vessels collided, injuring 29 people in total.
Paramedics transported 13 patients, and at least one of them was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Newly obtained video taken by one of the victims on board the Thriller tour boat showed the point of impact when a private vessel crashed into the tour boat.
“Our clients have suffered fractures, traumatic brain injuries, loss of consciousness, very serious things that’s going to be with them for life,” said Thomas Graham, an attorney with Mausner Graham Injury Law PLLC.
Graham and Eric J. Mausner are representing four of those victims.
“Our clients are actually from New York, they came down for a nice Miami weekend and unfortunately, they got into this horrible accident,” Mausner said.
Both attorneys believe that the Thriller vessel and the private vessel are at fault for the collision.
“When you’re a captain out on the water, especially taking passengers for hire, you have to maintain a safe speed, maintain a lookout and avoid collisions, and none of that happened here on behalf of either boat,” Graham said.
“It does look like the charter boat T-boned the Thriller boat, but the Thriller boat may have turned into the lane of the charter boat,” Masuner said. “We have to do more investigation.”
Graham and Mausner plan to file multiple lawsuits.
“We believe both bare liability, both failed to follow navigation rules,” Graham said. “And again, this is something that should not have happened and it caused horrible injuries.”
7News has also recently obtained the waiver passengers signed before they got on board the tour boat.
According to the waiver, if signed, passengers are acknowledging that “participation in guided speedboat tour activities entails known and unanticipated risks that could result in physical or emotional injury, paralysis, or death.”
The attorneys said, despite what the waiver said, their clients are entitled to damages.
Since Feb. 11, 7News has reached out to Thriller Miami Speedboat Adventures for comment on the collision but has not heard back from the company.
The U.S. Coast Guard is also investigating the crash, which could potentially lead to more lawsuits in addition to the civil suit.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.