A 100 foot barge built in 1957 sunk in the Ft. Pierce Inlet drowning a deckhand. The barge was being towed by a 54-foot Gulfstream from Key Biscayne to Georgia. The towing operation was performed by Reed Adams, Charles Griffin, Rodney Grambo and Dominick Tortorice. The decision to attempt the inlet was made when the barge began to take on water offshore. The fast outgoing tide through the inlet proved too much and the half century old barge causing it to break up and sank. Unfortunately, Tortorice did not make it off the barge in time. Reed Adam told media that the barge’s superstructure collapsed on Tortorice moments before the vessel when down. Tortorice’s body was later found offshore. Authorities suspect the outgoing tide carried his body away from the accident scene.
Two drowning incidents occurred at Disney’s Castaway Cay last week. Disney Cruise Lines has its own private island in the Bahamas where their passengers could partake in various aquatic activities. These activates include snorkeling, stingray encounters and simply swimming at the beach. With so many aquatic activates comes the danger of passengers drowning. This sadly occurred last week. A 28-year-old passenger from New York drowned while swimming at the adult beach. He was found unresponsive in the water and later pronounced dead by Bahamian authorities. A second incident involved an adult passenger who was snorkeling. The man was found unconscious in the water, was stabilized then evacuated to Miami for additional medical care. His condition is currently unknown.
South Florida had its share of Legionnaires’ Disease outbreaks over the recent years. Florida’s Department of Health defines “Legionnaires’ Disease” as an infection caused by the bacterium Legionella pneumophilia. Symptoms associated with the disease often include muscle aches, high fever, cough, and chills. Unfortunately, as noted by the Florida Department of Health, this disease “thrive[s] in warm, aquatic environments.” The Department and U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that between 8,000 to 18,000 people are hospitalized yearly in the United States as a result of the disease.
Florida SCUBA divers and snorkelers face an all too common threat when engaging in their favorite aquatic activity. That threat is negligent boat operators. In most dive accident cases it is found that the boat operator failed to abide by and/or follow regulations that provide for boating restricted areas. Sadly, this failure to follow the law many times leads to injuries, and sometimes, death.
