KEY LARGO, Florida (18 Feb 2009) — Another Florida boat propeller accident near a diver down flag left a Key Largo scuba diver hospitalized with severe leg injuries. Authorities told CDNN that Joseph Diver, 66, was scuba diving at Pickles Reef in the Florida Keys when a boat hit him and sped away from the scene of the accident. It is not known if the boat operator deliberately fled the scene or was not aware that the diver had been hit. Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers said the victim's brothers pulled him out of the water and rushed him to shore aboard a private boat. They told investigators that the boat was flying a diver down flag, which legally requires boat operators to slow to idle speed within 300 feet of the signaling device. Witnesses said Diver was about 100 feet from the flag when he was struck by the boat. Paramedics rushed Diver to Mariner's Hospital and he was later transferred by helicopter to Jackson Memorial Hospital. Authorities described Diver's injuries as serious but not life-threatening. "He received two long lacerations from the boat's twin propellers across his lower legs," Officer Bobby Dube told reporters. "At last report, he was listed in serious condition." FWC officers said the boat that hit Diver was a white center console vessel with an estimated length of 28 to 32 feet. They asked anyone with information about the accident to contact them. Too little, too late In January, another Florida scuba diver, Rob Murphy, 26, lost both legs after he was run over by a boat near Sandsprit Park. In the aftermath of that accident, Murphy's friends and many local scuba divers came forward to criticize boat operators saying they often ignore diver down flags in the Florida Keys and other popular diving areas. But instead of focusing on the core problem of inadequate regulation, specifically Florida's failure to require thorough training and mandatory certification of all boat operators, the local scuba diving community timidly proposed an annual "dive flag awareness day". | | Rob Murphy, 26, lost both legs after he was run over by a power boat while diving in Florida in January. According to local sources, the weak and ineffectual "flag awareness" initiative was floated by the same network of dive industry insiders who attempted to prevent Florida's ban on shark feeding with the specious "all regulations are bad" argument. Unacceptable risk "Operating a boat is not a right, it is a privilege that one earns, not by the act of purchasing a boat, but by demonstrating proficiency in the safe operation of a vessel," said CDNN Managing Editor Freeman Washington. "Given Florida's ever-increasing population density and high proportion of boat owners, unless the state adopts regulations that would require boat operators to comply with a licensing system similar to what is required of automobile owners, safety-conscious divers would be well-advised to avoid scuba diving in Florida waters." |
