Two people were killed Friday night and ten others were injured after two boats collided near Key Biscayne, Florida, an island town a few miles southeast of Miami, authorities said.
The U.S. Coast Guard was notified of the crash around 10:30 p.m. by a survivor, who reported that 12 people were in the water about a mile west of Key Biscayne, the agency said in a statement on Saturday.
Coast Guard boat and helicopter crews rescued 10 people and retrieved one body from the water, while a crew from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue recovered another body on Saturday morning, authorities said.
Two of the survivors were “seriously injured,” the Coast Guard said. The circumstances of the other survivors were not immediately available. It was also unclear what caused the crash.
Twelve people were in the two ships at the time of the crash and “all were launched from their boats,” said Jose Hernandez, a Coast Guard spokesman. It was not immediately known how many people were in each boat.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, the Miami-Dade Police Department and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were also involved in the search and rescue mission. The commission is investigating the cause of the crash, authorities said.
“The Coast Guard and our local partner agencies responded quickly and worked exhaustively on this search-and-rescue case,” said Lieutenant Cmdr. Benjamin Tuxhorn of the Coast Guard said.