Two boats collided on Saturday morning at Lake Talquin in Leon County, Florida resulting in the disappearance of a 10-year-old boy. According to reports, the collision occurred due to miscommunication between the two boats. Two adults, a man and a woman, from one of the vessels were injured and were transported to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. The 10-year-old, John Skylar Brogdon, was reported missing following the accident. According to a family member of the boy, they were fishing and had visited a few fishing holes when John wanted to use the restroom. As the boat was headed to the landing for John to use the restroom, the accident occurred.
A Tom & Jerry’s Airboat Rides crash injured several passengers during a morning tour. The airboat tour boat operating out of central Florida lost control and crashed head-on into a tree at a high rate of speed. Out of the fifteen aboard, fourteen were injured, two of which sustained critical injuries.
The Jacksonville Command Center for the U.S. Coast Guard received a call Monday night that 31-year-old passenger aboard the Carnival Sunshine was in need of a higher level of medical care than the cruise ship medical staff could offer. A 45-foot Coast Guard response boat was dispatched from Port Canaveral with emergency medical service personnel aboard and met the Carnival Sunshine off the Florida coast. The passenger along with a nurse from the cruise ship boarded the response boat and were taken to Jetty Park where the Brevard County Fire Rescue took over and transported the passenger to Health First Cape Canaveral Hospital. There is no word on the passenger’s medical status at this time.
A Florida Federal court has recently found that an injured maritime worker has a right to a jury trial for his Jones Act negligence, unseaworthiness and failure to provide maintenance and cure claims asserted as counter-claims to his employer’s admiralty declaratory judgment action.
An oil platform on Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana exploded on Sunday night injuring seven workers and resulting in the disappearance of 44-year-old Timothy Morrison of Katy, Texas. US Coast Guard conducted a search for the missing worker for close to 24 hours until announcing Monday night that the search would be suspended. Per officials, the platform is a natural gas storage location that feeds from other nearby rigs and is located approximately a mile and a half from the Kenner Boat Launch in Jefferson Parish and is owned by Clovelly Oil Co.