Law Enforcement Agencies A Major Factor In Boat Rescue
MIAMI (CBSMiami)--When a boat capsized sending 30 people and a dog into the water off Key Biscayne, South Florida law enforcement agencies were ready. They were out in full force this Columbus Day weekend.
"We have enough officers on the water patrolling to address any marine emergency that may occur," said Officer Jorge Pino with FWC.
Still, the rescue wasn't easy.
"It was a very chaotic, very complicated scene. We didn't know how many people we had. We had to do a very exact head count to make sure we weren't leaving anyone behind," Pino explained.
Rescuers credit tow companies and Good Samaritans for their help with the rescue effort as well as the number of law enforcement agencies on the water and their ability to get to the scene quickly.
"If it wasn't for the fast response time of all the first responders that got to the scene, there weren't enough life jackets that housed all these people, so if we didn't get there on scene, it possibly couldn't have ended as well as it did," said Lt. Mike Ortiz, with the Coast Guard.
Investigators will look into how many life jackets were on the boat and whether the boat was overloaded, but they say there could be more serious violations.
Pino said, "There's some speculation the captain of the vessel was charging people $20 to transport people back and forth to Nixon Beach. If that's the case he's gonna face some other charges."
According to FWC, the person driving the boat does not appear to be a licensed captain.
"It stuns me people would want to take the risk they take by paying people $20, allegedly, and they don't know what kind of experience this person has. They don't know what vessel it is. They don't know what condition that vessel is in but they choose to do that, and that's something that we preach day in and day out every Columbus Day weekend," said Pino.
