Two women are found dead inside car that fell into water off Fisher Island Ferry
A blue Mercedes-Benz with the bodies of two women inside has been recovered by rescue divers after the car fell from the Fisher Island Ferry, Miami-Dade police said early Wednesday.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue divers found two “unresponsive females” late Tuesday night in the car that sunk in Government Cut earlier in the evening, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
“Divers located the vehicle, submerged in the area of Government Cut, near Fisher Island. The vehicle was recovered from the water, and investigators discovered two deceased females inside,” police spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta said in the statement.
The Coast Guard said late Tuesday it was working with local response crews to recover the people and the car from the 50-foot deep channel. The 2019 blue Mercedes was towed from the Coast Guard station early Wednesday.
Police have identified the driver as 63-year-old Emma Afra, who lives on Fisher Island. Her passenger was 75-year-old Viviane Brahms of Harrison, New York, according to police.
The two victims
Afra had been involved with Kristi House, a nonprofit that advocates to end child abuse and child sex trafficking and also provides services to victims and their families. In November 2012, she was one of three women to chair the nonprofit’s annual “Touch a Heart” dinner and auction, which helped raise $500,000 for child victims of sexual abuse, according to the organization.
In December 2019, both women were photographed together by WorldRedEye.com at Glenn Ligon’s art lecture at the Miami Design District. They were also photographed in September 2017 at a private opening and cocktail reception for a Minimalism and Beyond gallery at the Mnuchin Gallery in New York City by BFA.
The Fisher Island Ferry
The ferry tragedy happened about 5 p.m. Tuesday on a boat named the Pelican. It was not immediately clear how far from the shore the car was or how it got in the water. The search went on late into the night, but the operation switched from rescue to recovery.
Fisher Island’s ferry service transports people and cars from an outpost near the Coast Guard station off the MacArthur Causeway in Miami Beach. The ferries cross over Government Cut to the exclusive island community off Biscayne Bay. The channel is 50 feet deep.
The Pelican, according to Coast Guard records, is a 113-foot passenger vessel built in 1981 and has an active Coast Guard certification.
Coast Guard records show it has had only minor problems in recent years.
In October 2018, the Coast Guard noted that the boat owner had replaced a cracked propeller and bilge piping, and removed “dead-end” wire from the engine room.
Seven months earlier, in March 2018, the Coast Guard inspected and cleared the vessel after it was involved in a collision. “Inspectors attended vessel and observed no significant damage to vessel’s hull,” the records show.
On Tuesday, Robert Berg was captaining Jillybird Fishing Charters on the way back from a sailfish charter. He said he saw a “crazy scene” with at least three helicopters, several boats from different agencies and four divers in the water.
“They were obviously looking for something,” he said.
He described the ferry as open in both the front and the back, blocked off only by a chain to keep the cars and people on the boat.
The Coast Guard said it would conduct a maritime incident investigation. The Miami-Dade Police Department said it would conduct the death investigation.
Residents of Fisher Island, whose homes fetch millions of dollars in the real estate market, said Tuesday night they working with emergency responders.
“Shortly before 5:00 p.m. today, a vehicle on the Fisher Island ferry ended up in the water for reasons still unknown at this point in time,” Roberto Sosa, president and CEO of the association, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Fisher Island Community Association is actively assisting the various agencies involved in the ongoing recovery efforts. Our thoughts are with all those affected. We cannot confirm any additional details at this point in time.”
Miami Herald staff writers Rebecca San Juan, David Goodhue, David Ovalle, Michelle Marchante and Charles Rabin contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 6:38 PM.
