MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Two people were injured on Wednesday after the boat they were traveling on crashed with a channel marker in Biscayne Bay.
It happened in Biscayne Bay near Black Point Marina.
“As we pulled up on the edge of the channel, we could smell fuel. So I assumed that that meant that probably a boat went down,” witness Chris Adams said.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the vessel may have slammed into a concrete channel marker, throwing its three occupants into the water.
The boat began taking on water and eventually sank to the bottom of the bay.
“We saw the Miami-Dade police boat come flying out, lights on,” Adams said.
Two people were pulled from the water by first responders and taken to the marina’s parking lot before being airlifted to a hospital.
“It looked like they had a big throwable device that they were trying to get people out of the water,” Adams said.
People passing by could be seen taking photos of channel marker No. 11, which was left leaning over after the collision with the boat.
“One of the channel markers out there is kind of leaned over pretty hard. It’s a big concrete marker,” Adams said.
The vessel, a 2018 Maverick, was later pulled from the water.
The third occupant of the boat was apparently uninjured.
After being briefly loaded into an ambulance, he later got out and was seen speaking with officers.
FWC officers remained at the marina for much of the evening as they investigated how the boat’s operator didn’t see the channel marker.
There was no update on the conditions of the two people who were rushed to the hospital as of late Wednesday night.