Charges seem to be on the way in a boating crash involving two vessels off the coast of the Florida Keys Sunday evening, ABC News reported.
A 36-foot Carrera with 16 passengers aboard collided with a 28-foot boat with two aboard around 6:30 p.m. Sand Cut, a popular sandbar near Elliot Key, Fla. All 18 were reported injured. According to Officer Jorge Pino, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman, said a dozen people were thrown into the water upon impact and the 28-foot boat capsized.
Nine people were taken to the hospital and one of those nine had to be hoisted from the water via Miami-Dade Fire Rescue helicopter. That passenger, Pino said, suffered the most serious injury and apparently had a leg injury and a concussion.
Injuries ranged from "lacerations to pulled muscles" and were classified as "minor to moderate." Blood alcohol tests were not administered, as alcohol was not believed to have caused the crash.
Despite appearances of the crash being an accident, charges may be filed in case any waterway violations were made.
"Whenever there is an accident on Florida's waterways its incumbent upon both captains of the respective vessels to maintain a proper lookout," Pino said.
Pino said the victims were fortunate to all be in stable condition.
"It was a violent collision," Pino told the Miami Herald. "We're very fortunate no one was killed."
Last month in Iowa, a boating accident killed four young adults and, also in May, a father and his daughter were killed in a boat wreck in England.
"We start to see that the warmer it gets, the more active our waters get. We have thousands and thousands of boaters on the waterways on any given weekend. We want them to enjoy themselves," he said. "But it's also somewhat concerning because we brace ourselves for something like what happened this Sunday."
