A 22-FOOT POWER BOAT PACKED WITH 14 PEOPLE crashed bow-first into a moored tug boat Sunday evening leaving five dead than nine injured, four critically.
First Coast News
The accident took place north of St. Augustine, Florida, in the Intracoastal Waterway. The pleasure boat was traveling at least 25 mph when it slammed into the starboard side of the tug which was tied up for the weekend at a dock construction site. It is not yet announced whether the tug had any mooring lights burning.
Neighbors said that the crash sounded like a shotgun blast when it happened around 7:15 pm. Florida Fish & Wildlife police say that most, if not all, of the occupants were in their early- and mid-twenties. It isn’t yet known why the boat drove into the unoccupied tug. Investigators are trying to determine whether alcohol played a part in the crash and if speed was a factor.
First Coast News
The construction project at the dock hindered rescue workers who had to join in with neighbors to lay plywood and planking along the pilings to be able to reach the injured. Five people were dead at the scene. Three in critical condition were flown by helicopter to a Jacksonville hospital, and six others in critical but stable condition were taken via ambulances to area hospitals.
The St. Augustine Record has the STORY.
WJXT
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