On 9-31-12, Officer and I responded to a report of an overturned vessel between the new and old seven mile bridge. Officer was the first officer on scene and was able to pull all of the occupants of the overturned vessel onto his patrol vessel, there were 7 total. We then arrived on scene to assist.
While talking through a translator to the owner, we learned that they were fishing while anchored between the bridges, when they noticed water on the deck of the boat. They then opened the bilge and at that time the water from the deck went into the bilge. Within 30 seconds the boat went under and rolled to the left resting on the T-Top. The bilge on the vessel was working but was just not able to keep up with the amount of water coming into the boat. The sea conditions between the two bridges were not favorable while the tide was running, making it a bad spot to be anchored in such a small boat. Also the capacity plate on the boat was painted over so i could not read exactly what it said, but with 7 people on board it appeared to be overloaded. They were in the water only a short time before being pulled out and nobody was injured. Once we finished with everything on scene, we transported the 7 individuals back to Sunshine Key where they were staying. Once at Sunshine key they were able to reach Tow Boat U.S., who salvaged the vessel. Tow Boat took a few pictures before they salvaged the vessel, and once at the dock we also took pictures

MARATHON                      