A boat crash on Tuesday morning, October 27, left one person dead and two others in the hospital.
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue said they responded to the crash shortly after 9:30 AM in the C-51 canal, which runs parallel to Southern Boulevard near the Congress Avenue overpass. The two injured boaters were taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital for treatment. The deceased victim’s name has not yet been released.
Unfortunately, Florida leads the nation in boating accident fatalities, according to a U.S. Coast Guard survey of marine accidents in 2018. For that year they had 607 boating accidents, leading to 607 deaths, 297 injuries, and more than $7 million in property damage. Collisions and falling overboard are the two biggest reasons for fatalities, but fires on board a boat can also be deadly.
Other factors that can contribute to boat accidents:
- Alcohol. Boaters should drink responsibly and have a designated operator for the boat who is not drinking.
- Lack of education. The Coast Guard also found that about 74 percent of accidents involve boat operators who didn’t take a certified safety training course.
- Not wearing a life jacket. According to the Coast Guard, 84 percent of people who drowned were not wearing one, and three in four fatalities involve drowning.