This is the terrifying moment a tour boat crashed into an open-air tour boat in Miami earlier this month.
Twenty-nine passengers were injured, with one taken to hospital, as a result of the ‘horrific’ February 11 crash.
New footage of the collision, which took place around Fisherman’s Channel, shows the tour ship ‘Obelix’ speeding directly over the speedboat ‘Thriller’.
A group aboard the tour boat, which takes passengers on rides at speeds of 60 miles per hour, was visiting from New York, their attorney Thomas Graham. told NBC News.
Graham said his clients suffered broken bones, one lost consciousness and another suffered a traumatic brain injury. They are now seeking unspecified monetary damages.
The collision occurred around Fisherman’s Channel and shows the tour vessel ‘Obelix’ speeding directly over the boat ‘Thriller’
13 passengers were injured, with one taken to hospital, as a result of the ‘horrific’ February 11 crash
Boating accident near Miami Harbor left 29 injured and more than a dozen hospitalized, officials said
The US Coast Guard confirmed that the Obelix was operating illegally without a permit.
“Both boats were simply not safe in this case,” Graham told NBC.
“They failed to keep a lookout, they failed to avoid a collision, they accelerated,” he explained.
Adding: ‘You can see from this video, which our client was fortunate enough to witness, that an extremely horrific collision occurred which, if safety was observed, was completely avoidable.’
“When you go out on the water as a captain, especially if you take passengers for hire, you have to maintain a safe speed, look out and avoid collisions, and that didn’t happen here on either boat.”
Officials said they were deployed to the scene several kilometers from the seaport to pull survivors from the two boats to safety.
In total, more than 30 units responded to the crisis in the early afternoon, according to officials.
That response included an air rescue and several fire boats, along with U.S. Coast Guard and Florida Wildlife Commission vessels.
The tour offers ‘the ultimate sightseeing experience’ according to the website and, as the name suggests, is known for its daring speed. The cause of the accident is currently being investigated
Officials revealed around that time that the other ship involved was a private vessel, but it has yet to be identified. It is unclear whether the occupants of that boat were also injured
Horacio Rodriguez, MDFR division chief, said his agency and the Coast Guard are investigating what caused the crash
“The asymptomatic patients were returned to Bayside,” officials said, before revealing that paramedics had transported a total of 13 patients to an area hospital.
The patients were then taken back to shore several kilometers away from where the crash occurred, said Horacio Rodriguez, division chief of MDFR.
“Our clients are actually from New York, they came to Miami for a fun weekend and unfortunately they had this terrible accident,” said Eric J. Mausner, who also represents the victims.
He added, “It appears the charter boat boned the Thriller boat, but the Thriller boat may have gone into the path of the charter boat,” Masuner said.
Adding: ‘We need to do more research.’
“We believe that both are liable and that both failed to follow the rules of navigation,” Graham agreed.
The cause of the crash is under investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.