Video captures the moment two tour boats collided in Biscayne Bay, injuring 13 people
A video of a crash between two tour boats in Biscayne Bay depicts a moment of joy as a young woman films herself listening to music with friends sitting beside her — until the vessels violently collide.
In total, 13 people were taken to the hospital with various injuries following the Feb. 11 collision near PortMiami.
Eric Mausner and Thomas Graham, with the firm Mausner Graham Injury Law, are representing four passengers who were on the 55-foot Thriller 06, which operates out of Bayside Marketplace. In an interview with the Herald, they said their clients were seriously hurt in the crash.
“We’re dealing with various fractures, severe loss of consciousness and traumatic brain injuries,” Mausner said. “And, it’s still a little early, so sometimes these things take a bit to manifest.”
Mausner has not named his clients.
He and Graham noted the video shows that both the operator of the Thriller and the driver of the the Obelix, a 43-foot Midnight Express luxury center console boat powered by five engines, were at fault for the crash.
““It looks like both vessels were speeding. They failed to maintain a lookout, like they’re required to do to avoid a collision, and I think it’s pretty obvious when you watch the video that both vessels had an opportunity to avoid this collision and it resulted in these catastrophic injuries,” Graham said.
READ MORE: Tour boats collide near Miami port, sending 13 to hospital and Coast Guard to scene
Neither the owners of the Thriller nor the Obelix, operated by Midnight Sun Boat Charters, immediately responded for requests for comment on the video or attorney’s statements on the crash.
The U.S. Coast Guard, which is investigating the incident, said the Obelix was operating as an illegal charter that day. It’s a claim Steven Jakab, who owns Midnight Sun Boat Charters, denied earlier this month.
“It is our position that we were operating within the terms of a legal charter,” Jakab said.
The Coast Guard has declined to specify how it determined the Obelix was not operating legally. A spokesman for the service said the driver is “a licensed mariner,” but he “failed to meet certain elements of the Passenger Vessel Safety Act.”
Asked about the criminal investigation into the crash and whether the boats were legally operating, Graham told the Herald:
“At the end of the day our case is more simple than that. Two captains who weren’t paying attention and rammed their boats into each other and shouldn’t have.”
