Westminster Christian senior dies after boat crashes into channel marker in the Keys
A senior at Westminster Christian School in Palmetto Bay was killed Sunday in a boat crash in the Florida Keys, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission police and school officials.
Lucas Alvarez, 18, captain of the school’s lacrosse team, was a passenger in a 23-foot Pathfinder open fisherman vessel, said FWC spokesman Officer Bobby Dube. The school identified the student.
“It is with a heavy heart that we inform you of the passing of senior Lucas Alvarez on Sunday due to a boating accident in the Keys,” the school said in a statement Monday.
The boat hit a channel marker on the bay side of Lower Matecumbe Key around 3:30 p.m. in a channel known as Bowlegs Cut, Dube said.
The boat was driven by David Castillo, 18, who the FWC stated in a press release is from Miami. Alvarez and two other passengers, Nelson Albareda, 18, of Coral Gables and Andres Campos, 18, of Miami, were ejected from the boat when it hit the channel marker, Dube said.
Alvarez suffered “trauma to the lower torso.” Medics took him to Mariners Hospital in Tavernier, where he died, Dube said.
Castillo, Albareda and Campos were not injured, according to the FWC release. It was not immediately clear how fast the vessel was traveling when it hit the marker.
“The incident is currently under investigation by the FWC,” Dube said.
Alvarez, who had attended Westminster since middle school, planned to attend Universal Technical Institute in Orlando after graduation, the private school said. In honor of his passing, all lacrosse games scheduled for this week have been postponed.
Fellow students reacted emotionally to his death on social media Monday.
“It still doesn’t seem real, as if tomorrow I’m going to get to see him, hug him, hear his voice, and tell him I love him,” Marla Fay wrote in an Instagram post.
The school will reopen on Wednesday from Winter Break and hold a special assembly for high school students and faculty, and therapists will be available throughout the day for students and faculty.
This report will be updated as more information becomes available.
This story was originally published February 17, 2020 at 10:16 AM.
