Naples man dies in boating accident off the Florida Keys on Friday night
A Naples, Florida, man is dead after being ejected Friday night from a boat on which he was a passenger and being fatally struck by the vessel’s engine propellers, according to state fish and wildlife police.
Four other people, all from Naples, were aboard the 35-foot Contender open fisherman boat, but no one else was injured, according to an incident report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The FWC named the victim as Sean Scott Hurley, 25.
The boat was operated by Brandon Werning, 27, who was driving the boat from Naples to Islamorada, according to the report.
Shortly before 9:30 p.m., the boat was on plane approaching Yacht Channel, about five miles north of Long Key, when it took a sharp turn. The seas were very rough and Werning was driving through a severe thunderstorm.
He lost control of the vessel, and three passengers, including Hurley, were ejected.
Werning helped get everyone back on board, but Hurley had been killed by the propeller, FWC Investigator Brittany Mobley wrote in her report.
Alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the accident, according to the report.
This was the second on-the-water fatality in the Keys this weekend that the FWC is investigating.
On Friday, Nicholas Hayward, 36, of Costa Rica, died at the Lower Keys Medical Center from injuries he sustained after falling from a parasailing rig off Key West. Another person, Azalea Silva, 28, from San Antonio, Texas, fell from the same rig and was critically injured, according to the FWC.
Medics flew Silva to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Her condition Saturday afternoon was not immediately known.
FWC Investigator Michael Alvarez said severe weather was a contributing factor in the accident.
Rough seas continued to plague boaters and keep rescuers busy Saturday.
A patrol boat crew from Coast Guard Station Islamorada rescued two people clinging to an overturned boat near French Ree off Key Largo.
Five people were originally on the vessel. A commercial salvage boat crew saved the other three people, according to a Facebook post from Station Islamorada.
