A terrible boating tragedy north of Key Largo claimed the life of a North Carolina woman and badly injured three others.
According to CBS News Miami, a collision between a speedboat and a sailboat threw several people into the sea on Friday night.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) stated that the victim, Sydney Cole, 24, was discovered dead following a massive search by several organizations.
The crash is currently being investigated, and alcohol has been identified as a possible contributing factor.
Assistant Monroe County State Attorney Joseph Mansfield told The Miami Herald that “the motorboat captain appeared’severely intoxicated’ and was being questioned by police Friday night.” The accident occurred in Florida Bay around mile marker 96, when the 21-foot motorboat collided with an anchored sailboat in Button Sound.
CBS News Miami reports that three of the four people thrown from the wrecked watercraft were rescued with injuries.
One of the injured, Lillian Cairo, 58, of Oakland Park, was evacuated in critical condition to a Miami-Dade County hospital.
According to The Miami Herald, Guy Erdman, 61, was the operator of the motorboat and had not been detained as of yesterday night.
Following the accident, a fierce argument erupted. Christopher Erdman, 31, the motorboat operator’s son who was not hurt in the incident, was arrested on charges of felony battery and felony aggravated assault.
According to law enforcement authorities, following the crash, he allegedly boarded the sailboat and attacked one of its passengers, William Milner, a 71-year-old Yorktown, Virginia resident.
“After the crash, the younger Erdman boarded the sailboat and attacked the man on the vessel, 71-year-old William Milner, of Yorktown, Virginia,” Mansfield told The Miami Herald. According to reports, Milner and his wife, Paula, were unharmed in the crash, and Milner declined medical care for the assault.