During the afternoon of June 15, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission FloridaCounty Sheriff’s Office Highlands and the Fire Department Sebring responded to the report of an overturned boat that, according to preliminary information, was heading toward the kissimmee river from the Istokpoga canal.
According to WTSP-10 Newstelevision station affiliated with the network C.B.S. that provides service in the areas of Tampa Baythe overturned boat turned towards an area deep and it began to fill with water. Therefore, according to preliminary information, seven men were on board the hydrofoil when it began to sink.
Four of them returned to shore safely, so search efforts began for the other three, who were later declared deceased by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the agency charged with managing, protecting and conserving the resources of wildlife of the state.
Given this situation, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported during the morning of this Tuesday, June 16, that the three men dead in an airboat accident on a Highlands County canal were undocumented immigrants: one was Mexican and the other two, Guatemalans.
Florida water accident
“The Highlands County Sheriff’s Office offers its prayers to those who have been affected by this tragedy and expresses its deepest condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of the victims“, declared the institution in a statement, in which it also indicated that the investigation into the river channel continues.
This is because the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating the boat tragedy that left three migrants deadin the middle of the shock of residents and visitors, with the objective of determining the causes of the overturning of the hydrofoil that occurred during the afternoon of last Monday, June 15.
So, while many questions remain unanswered, airboat operators in Florida interviewed by WTSP-10 News claim that the magnitude of the tragedy is unlike anything they remember in recent years, because the airboat began to fill with water, overturned and threw its occupants into the water.
Four people managed to return to shore safely and search teams later recovered the bodies of the three missing occupants. “I have been doing this route for more than twenty years and it is one of the worst things I’ve heard,” added John Scott, who has operated airboat tours on the river since 2004.
The Guatemalans who died in the Kissimmee River
According to what was stated by various Internet users on social networks, Guatemalans Ricardo Chocooj and Edwin Ramiro Coy Caaloriginating from Izabal and Baja Verapaz, respectively, were two of the occupants of the hydrofoil who died in the water accident in Florida, along with a Mexican that has not been identified.
Although the identity of the Guatemalans has not yet been confirmed by US authorities, news of the accident has shocked to both residents and visitors who regularly enjoy airboat rides in the area. “It’s a tragic accident“added Maritza Armengol, a neighbor of the victims.