MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials have confirmed a woman’s body that washed up on shore Monday morning was the fourth passenger of a boat that crashed in Miami Beach.
Miami Beach Police responded to the scene near First Street and Collins Avenue just before 7 a.m.
The body was discovered near Government Cut where a married couple died and a friend of the couple was injured on Saturday night.
The couple’s boat carried four people before crashing. One victim was left unaccounted for after a preliminary search.
“We were able to identify the body as the third fatal victim from the boating accident,” said FWC Officer Ronald Washington. “It was a capsized vessel and multiple fatalities. It was a very tragic, devastating incident.”
The two deceased victims originally found were identified as Chris and Elis Colgann of Broward County.
Their son, 16-year-old Chris Colgann Jr., spoke to 7News saying his parents had gone out on the boat with Troy Forte and his girlfriend to celebrate his mother’s birthday.
“It doesn’t feel real. It does not feel real to me,” he said. “They went on the boat that day. They went to Miami ’cause my mom wanted to go for her birthday. I was at the dock, and I helped them get off, and I washed and I waxed it for them the day before, and I was like, ‘Right now you guys can go out on the boat, be really clean,’ and they’re like, ‘All right.’ They took off, and I was like, ‘Alright, be safe.’ That’s the last I ever heard from them. They were so generous, kind. I have so many friends that come over — everyone feels like they’re parents to them. They were open arms to anyone. All I can describe is they’re amazing people.”
Colgann Jr. took to Instagram on Monday night to post a tribute to his parents.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwk9rcrFEHR/
FWC identified 28-year-old Jennifer Munoz Cadavid as the third victim to have died from the crash.
The sole survivor from the crash, Forte, was transported to the hospital on Saturday night.
“The survivor is in critical but stable condition,” Washington said.
The crash happened in the area where late Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez and two friends were killed after their boat crashed into the jetty in 2016.
After that accident, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez sent out a memo about the threat the jetty poses and said the Miami-Dade Police Department wanted lights added to it.
The U.S. Coast Guard performed an analysis, and ultimately determined the existing buoys and range markers were sufficient.
On Monday, Gimenez told 7News that something needs to be done.
“I’ve been out there at night, and they’re really hard to see, especially with the background of the city lights in your face,” he said. “Maybe lighting it? Maybe another marker? I really don’t know because other agencies are involved, the South Florida Water Management District, the Coast Guard is involved, so we need to find a way to make it much, much safer.”
The wrecked boat was removed from the jetty hours after the body’s discovery.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
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