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4 injured when boat crashes into Fla. bridge

Four people were airlifted to hospitals after a boat crashed into the Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys

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A view of the Overseas Highway’s Seven Mile Bridge near Little Duck Key and Bahia Honda State Park on Monday, October 11, 2021.

MATIAS J. OCNER/TNS

By Grethel Aguila, David Goodhue
Miami Herald

MONROE COUNTY, Fla. — Four people were hospitalized after a boat driven by a teenager collided with the Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys over the weekend, according to police and emergency officials.

The injured were airlifted to hospitals in Miami-Dade after the collision around 2:20 p.m. Saturday, the Monroe County fire department and sheriff’s office said.

Seven people were on the 1976 Mako center console at the time of the crash; several of them went into the water upon impact with the bridge, said Arielle Callender, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the lead police agency investigating the crash.

The Mako was operated by a 17-year-old girl, Callender said. The Herald is not naming her because of her age.

Other boaters in the area picked the people from the water and took them to land, Callender said.

Marathon Fire Rescue paramedics treated the injured, and Monroe County Fire Rescue’s Trauma Star air ambulance transported the wounded to the mainland, said Kristen Livengood, spokeswoman for Monroe’s department.

Their conditions were not available as of Monday afternoon.

Callender said the cause of the crash is under investigation.

“This is an active investigation, no additional information is available at this time,” Callender said.

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