Woman's Body Found Hours After Boat Capsizes

POSTED: Thursday, January 1, 2009
UPDATED: 3:42 am EST January 2, 2009



Jacksonville Sheriff's Office dive teams were called to assist fire-rescue teams in searching for the missing boater.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A woman in her 60s was found dead after a boat carrying a family of six capsized in the St. Johns River about noon on New Year's Day.

It's not known why the boat capsized about two miles north of the Mathews Bridge.

A private boater pulled four of the six boaters from the water. Jacksonville Fire-Rescue rescued another person -- a man in his 50s -- who was still on the capsized boat and suffered a serious injury.

"I'm not sure if all six individuals are a family or if they are related to each other, but the man who we transported to Shands-Jacksonville indicated to emergency responders that his sister is still unaccounted for," said JFRD spokesman John Bracey.

JFRD and police dive teams were called to the scene to search for the sixth person, but Channel 4 was told the current was too strong for them to go in the water. Just before 5 p.m., the woman's body was found still in the hull of the overturned boat.

The names of the victims were not released and what caused the boat to capsize was still under investigation.

Video:
http://www.news4jax.com/video/18396170/index.html



Remarks posted .........

My USMC Son on leave for Christmas was in the river between goat island and Mat. bride on Sat. Afternoon, going slow and hit something metal, got towed by one of our memberships to lions boat ramp. The prop is really bad and the towing people hit the same thing. I ask my son if te towing people would report it and he didn't know. They really helped him out. But, i think they should report that something was there are put up a warning?????? I don't know, this this woman still be alive if they did???? I now cannot sleep. We had a bad night with boat damage and towing that night, but this family could have been saved, maybe it wasnt the exact area, I hope not, but just in case for her family, there is something in the river that wasn't reported. sorry, it is late, I am tired, and just cannot believe it was so close to my son's incident. Pls let me know if I can help. I just had to comment so I can sleep or maybe not.

Sad news.... I hope they discover what the boat hit and remove it so it won't happen again.

A sad story and what a way to start 2009. Condolences to the family of the deceased woman.