One of the boats in PortMiami crash was an illegal charter, Coast Guard says
THE BOAT OWNER DISAGREES WITH THE COAST GUARD’S FINDING.
One of the two tour boats involved a crash that injured 13 people, one critically, near PortMiami was operating as an illegal charter, the Coast Guard said Wednesday.
Sunday’s crash prompted a large, multi-agency emergency response, with patients being taken to area hospitals, including Jackson Memorial in Miami.
According to the Coast
Guard, the captain of the Obelix, a 43-foot, luxury center-console vessel powered by five engines, wasn’t licensed to have paid passengers, a violation of the Passenger Vessel Safety Act, said Petty Officer 3rd Class
Eric Rodriguez, a spokesman for the service.
That boat, and the 55foot Thriller 06 speedboat, which operates out of Bayside Marketplace and can carry 36 passengers, collided around 3:15 p.m.
The Obelix is operated by Midnight Sun Boat
Charters, which, according to its website, began in 2014 with day charters in the U.S. Virgin Islands and has expanded to Miami. The boat leaves out of Haulover Marine Center.
The company’s owner, State Jakab, told the Miami Herald in a text Wednesday that he is discussing the issue with investigators but disagrees with the Coast Guard’s finding.
“It is our position that we were operating within the terms of a legal charter,” Jakab said. “Furthermore, we have not been informed officially by Coast Guard of such a finding or decision.”
One of the passengers injured in the crash was taken to a hospital in critical condition, Rodriguez said. It was not immediately clear which boat that person was on.
Rodriguez said the Coast Guard issued a “vessel safety inspection requirement” on the Thriller 06, meaning it cannot conduct passenger operations until the damages it sustained can be repaired.