NORTH MIAMI, FLA. (WSVN) - Authorities said they have tracked down the boat believed to have been involved in a hit-and-run in Biscayne Bay last week that left a man dead and sent his 14-year-old son to the hospital.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the victims were on board a seven-foot inflatable dinghy in the Meloy Channel, near Indian Creek and Biscayne Point Circle in Miami Beach, when a much larger boat hit them, Wednesday night.
The impact caused the father and son to be ejected from the dinghy. Investigators said the operator of the larger vessel did not stop to render aid and took off.
Last Thursday, teens Enzo Avelino and Samuel Londono said they were working in the area when they heard panicked screams for help.
“We hear like ‘help, help, help.’ So that’s when I run to the dock, and I see like a silhouette or like a shadow of something, and we make it out and [say], ‘That’s someone, they need help, they need help,'” said Avelino.
That call for help came from the younger victim after he and his father were thrown into the water.
“We instantly called the cops, let them know everything. They came in like two minutes. It was really, really fast,” said Londono. “The dad was unconscious when they got him and brought him back.”
Rescuers rushed both victims to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where the father, 55-year-old Davide Veglia, later succumbed to his injuries. The 14-year-old was treated for a broken arm.
“I couldn’t ever imagine someone just doing that to someone and running away and thinking they are going to get away with it. That’s messed up,” said Londono.
Days later, a man was critically injured and a woman was killed in another boating crash just north of Nixon Sandbar, Saturday morning.
In that incident, 54-year-old Neil Schwab and 33-year-old Claudia Balmaseda Orellanes were ejected from the boat after losing control.
The unmanned boat then began running in circles before striking both individuals in the water.
Cellphone video shows first responders rushing Schwab to the hospital.
Officials would eventually find Orellanes’ body in the water, after she had succumbed to her injuries.
Authorities released video of Wednesday’s hit-and-run to the public and searched for the boat for five days.
Italian soccer club Cesena FC on Friday mourned Veglia, who was deeply involved in supporting the team. In a statement, club spokesperson John Aiello wrote: “We have lost a friend, a person of extraordinary humanity and kindness, and a part of our family.”
FWC has not confirmed whether or not they have also located the person who was steering the boat and did not specify what charges they could be facing.
Both crashes remain under investigation.
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