Offshoreonly.com - Another boating accident!

Second victim of deadly boating accident found near Vizcaya Channel

By Robert Nolin, Madeline Baró and Marlene Naanes
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted October 10 2006

The outing had been planned for weeks: a pre-birthday cruise on Biscayne Bay, friends aboard and a bright moon above.

For the nine young people on the rented powerboat, two of whom had traveled from Puerto Rico, last weekend's Columbus Day Regatta was a picture-perfect day on the water. They tanned, watched the sailboat race and partied.

"They were having a good time," said Diana Rosa, a friend on another boat. "We waved and never saw them again."

Within hours, about 9 p.m. Saturday just south of the Rickenbacker Causeway, the group of mostly college students was involved in a collision that killed two of them and injured the rest. The body of one of the victims, James Noel-Pou, 23, was recovered Monday near the Vizcaya Channel. In the chaos of the crash, which involved a total of 29 people on four boats, Noel-Pou wasn't reported missing until Sunday, when the Puerto Rico native's father, who flew from their island home, couldn't find him at the hospital.

Also killed was Monica Burguera, 20, who was declared dead at the scene. Like Noel-Pou and the others onboard, she originally was from Puerto Rico. Except for the two friends visiting from the island, everyone on the boat attended Florida International University.

"Her boyfriend apparently saw her in the water dead, but he couldn't do anything because his pelvis was broken," Rosa said.

The boyfriend, Andres Perez, 20, suffered a broken arm as well, she said. Nobody on the other boats was hurt.

Officials did not release the names of all the injured, who met in high school in San Juan. They remained hospitalized Monday, and their conditions were not immediately available.

Doctors had to amputate fingers from one woman, and perform surgery on another's severely injured eye, said another friend, Daniela Betancourt.

The outing was for Noel-Pou's birthday -- he would have turned 24 next week. The avid soccer fan graduated from FIU last year and was taking graduate courses in construction.

"He was super nice," Betancourt said. "He was super outgoing. He loved to go out with his friends."

Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said it was "almost impossible" Noel-Pou was alive when he went into the water.

Betancourt said sometime Saturday evening, the lights went out on the party's rented boat, a Sea Ray, and its engine soon failed.

They called for help and a friend on another boat began towing them in. They were the lead of two boats being towed.

Then, out of the blackness roared a 35-foot Intrepid carrying 10 passengers. It struck the side of the towed vessel, traveling completely over it.

"It literally went right over the top of the boat, cleaning everything off the gunnel," said Scott McClary, captain of a Sea Tow Service tow boat that arrived first on the scene. "It was not a pretty sight, God bless them."

Pino said his agency is investigating whether any boats violated navigational rules or if alcohol played a role. Investigators took all four boats to the wildlife agency's Miami office where they will be examined for contributing factors such as electrical or fuel problems.

"It's a big puzzle and we slowly start to piece everything together," Pino said.

"I was told that the two vessels in tow had no lights whatsoever," McClary said.

Coast Guard spokesman Dana Warr said rules require vessels to display red and green running lights on the bow and a white, 360-degree light on the stern. Pino declined to discuss the lighting question, or the speed of the boat that struck the towed vessel. Noel-Pou's disappearance, he said, occurred in the confusion of the crash.

"It was an enormous task to transport these people to shore," he said.

Friends mistakenly told officers they thought they had seen Noel-Pou walking away when they arrived on land, Pino added.

The fatalities were the first in four years at the Columbus Day Regatta, which has grown from a small sailing race into a huge waterborne party that attracts hundreds of boaters. Police step up patrols each year to try to curtail drinking and raucous behavior.

Liz Gabay, chairwoman of the regatta, said the estimated 3,000 boaters that congregated Saturday were not part of the 52-year-old race.

The 100 sailboats that did participate experienced no accidents or major injuries, Gabay said.

Pino said the episode will be studied, with an eye to preventing future cases.

"This is a critical incident for us," he said.

"This is an incident that is going to be dissected and looked at and we're going to learn from it."