MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Two people were killed late Saturday after their boat crashed into a jetty near Government Cut off the coast of Miami Beach, authorities said.
A spokesperson for Miami Beach Fire Rescue said the small boat crashed around 9:30 p.m. east of South Pointe Park Pier.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews rescued a third passenger, who was seriously hurt, on the jetty. On Sunday morning, crews continued to search for the fourth passenger.
"On arrival, we found one patient that was on the rocks, in and out of consciousness. The crews of Fireboat 73 quickly tended to the patient," said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Andy Alvarez.
Paramedics transported the victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital. That person’s condition was not disclosed.
Paramedics found the two other victims on the rocks nearby. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
Family members identified the victims who were killed as Christopher and Elis Colgan, a married couple from Broward County.
"We saw all the emergency vehicles coming down the road last night, and everybody was wondering what happened," one witness said. "I want to understand how this could happen, why they didn’t see the rocks, so this can't happen again."
This is the same area where Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez died in 2016 in a similar boat crash.
The cause of last night’s wreck is still under investigation.
Meanwhile, Ron Washington, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said another person was killed in a separate boat crash late Saturday near Grove Isle Marina in Miami's Coconut Grove neighborhood.