Suburban Woman Pinned By Ray During Florida Vacation
ISLAMORADA, Fla. (CBS) -- A Crystal Lake woman on a Florida vacation survived what she says is the scariest thing ever to happen to her.
Jenny Hausch and her family were on an chartered boat ride in the Florida Keys this past Friday, when a 200-pound spotted eagle ray shot out of the water and landed in their boat – and on Hausch's chest. She ended up trapped under the fish.
"It jumped out, they say it was probably two to three hundred pounds and I fell backwards," Jenny Hausch told WFOR-TV's Ted Scouten.
Hausch's husband and three children watched stunned, not believing what was happening in front of them.
"I was freaked out," Delaney Hausch, the family's youngest daughter told WFOR. "How could that happen without something very, very bad happening?"
Delaney and the rest of her family were worried with good reason. Last year, a woman died after the same thing happened to her in the Florida Keys, WFOR reported.
"We're just very grateful, had it been a foot higher, the results would be very different," Jenny Hausch told WFOR.
Click here to see a photo gallery of the giant spotted eagle ray, from CBSMiami.com.
Wildlife officials arrived within seconds. They say an incident such as this with a ray is very rare.
"This was not an attack; these things are not looking to have a little human meal," Florida Wildlife officer Aja Vickers told WFOR. "It's a one in a million chance and it's just amazing that it happened to them."
Boat captain Kelly Klein moved the children to safety in the rear of the boat, as the ray tried to get back in the water with Jenny Hausch still underneath, WFOR reported.
Eventually, wildlife officers got the ray back into the water.
Spotted eagle rays are usually a shy species, and are wary when they encounter divers in the water, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History. But they can still be dangerous, since they carry venom in their tail spines, the museum said.
The spotted eagle ray is also considered near-threatened by the World Conservation Union, the museum said.
