Seven injured in BPK boat crash

Three people were flown by air ambulance to a Miami-Dade County hospital and four others were treated at Lower Keys Medical Center after the boat they were in struck the South Pine Channel Bridge on Big Pine Key early Monday, July 8.

The crash was the second boating accident since Friday, July 5, when a diver was struck and killed off Marathon.

In Monday’s crash, all the passengers were ejected from the vessel, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Capt. Dave Dipre.

Of the three flown to Miami, one was a 12-year-old boy. The accident occurred shortly before 2 a.m. Monday morning, according to Monroe County spokeswoman Kristen Livengood. The vessel, described as a large Contender, struck the bridge at a “high rate of speed,” and then started to sink, Livengood said.

Dipre estimated the speed of the vessel to be between 30 and 40 mph, he said. The vessel was traveling from the ocean to the bay through South Pine Channel when it struck the bridge, Dipre said.

“They missed the gap and struck the edge of the bridge and came to an immediate stop,” Dipre said.

As of 8:30 a.m. Monday, the vessel was still in the water but Towboat U.S. was on scene and in the process of removing it, Dipre said. The vessel will be taken to the FWC’s Marathon station for further evidence collecting and processing, Dipre said.

The FWC is investigating the accident, as well as Friday’s death of a diver, identified as Israel Boza, 55, of Hialeah, according to Dipre.

The FWC has located the owner/operator of the vessel, which is “believed” to be involved in the fatal accident, according to Dipre. The vessel and the owner/operator were located on Key Colony Beach, Dipre said.

Boza died after being struck by a boat around 1:15 p.m. Friday in the ocean off Mile Marker 39, according to the FWC.

The boat involved in the accident was described as a 32-foot Contender with a white T-top, white hull and blue paint on the bottom, with twin, white, Mercury outboard engines, according to authorities. No one had been charged as of Monday, Dipre said.

FWC investigators have collected video evidence from a GoPro camera and have talked with witnesses, Dipre said.