A group of good Samaritans who responded to the deadly boat incident in Biscayne Bay over the weekend that left a woman dead and a man injured are speaking out.
The incident happened Saturday morning near West Point and Crandon Park Marina when the man and woman were thrown into the water and struck by their own vessel as it continued moving, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said.
The woman, 33-year-old Claudia Orellanes of Coral Gables, was killed while the man, 54-year-old Neil Schwabe of Coconut Grove, was airlifted to a local hospital.
Three men who work for Black Sea Technologies, which offers maritime support to the Department of Defense, heard the call for help and rushed over.
“I heard a mayday on the radio,” Michael Griffin told NBC6. “I saw a boat going in circles wide open and there was a guy hanging onto a WaveRunner who was hurt.”
The group said they encountered one of the worst accidents they’re ever seen, with Schwabe clinging to a personal watercraft and Orellanes lifeless in the water.
“We got to the scene and saw how bad it was. We pulled up to him and jumped into our training,” Griffin said.
“We noticed a lady was floating face down,” Carlos Marin said.
Cell phone video showed the boat out of control and going in circles with no one on board.
The men said Schwabe’s leg was severely cut.
“It was pretty gruesome. The leg was completely amputated. It was being held on by flesh in multiple places.” Marin said.
The group pulled him onto their boat and tried to stop the bleeding.
“We saw that he needed a tourniquet before he bled out so we grabbed a piece of rope we had on our boat and we cut it and we wrapped it around his leg and tried to cinch it down,” Marin said.
They said Schwabe was in shock.
“He was very calm, not acting like his leg was severely hurt,” Garret Roland said.
The men said they don’t consider themselves heroes, but said they were in the right place at the right time.
“The good Lord put us there for a reason and we were there to help. That’s just what we do,” Griffin said.
Orellanes’ roommate told NBC6 on Monday that she had moved to the U.S. three years ago from Cuba and was working as an insurance agent.
The cause of the deadly accident remains under investigation.
