miami

Published on: September 23, 2024

Florida Divers Break Record in Annual Competition. What to Know About Safe Diving

Divers broke records this year in an annual competition to remove invasive lionfish from Florida waters, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission press release.

The 2024 Lionfish Season concluded with a record-breaking 31,773 species being pulled from the water. Just under 300 divers went on over 700 trips throughout the state to retrieve the animals that are dangerous to native fish and coral reefs.

One lionfish can reduce a native reef fish population by over 70%. They also present a risk to humans with their venomous spines which can cause painful stings. In 2022, over 25,000 lionfish were removed from Florida waters in FWC’s annual, summer-long challenge, which began in 2016.

Published on: August 15, 2024

Police: “It didn’t look like there was any effort to stop,” in Florida Keys crash that killed two earlier this week

By Leesfield & Partners

A 9-year-old boy and his father, 47, were identified as the two people killed when a personal watercraft crashed earlier this week into a Marathon, Florida, sea wall.

The two crashed on a 2018 Yamaha personal watercraft just before 7 p.m. in a Boot Key Harbor canal near 15th Street Ocean. The father was thrown over the handlebars of the personal watercraft and catapulted nearly 20 feet away onto land, according to reporting from the Keys Weekly. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Neighbors rushed to where the boy had landed in the water to try and help until deputies with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office arrived. The boy was helicoptered out but went into cardiac arrest while on his way to Miami Children’s Hospital. First responders made an emergency landing at Mariners Hospital in Tavernier where he died.

Published on: July 2, 2024

Police investigating after 5-year-old drowned in Miami-Dade pool. What to know to stay safe in the water this summer

By Leesfield & Partners

A 5-year-old boy died Thursday night after drowning in the backyard pool of a home in Miami-Dade County, according to reporting from The Miami Herald.

Emergency responders were called out to the home, located on the 14800 block of SW 168th Terrace, just before 8 p.m. Thursday. The boy was taken to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital for emergency treatment but was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Additional details were not immediately available Friday. The incident is under investigation by the Miami-Dade Homicide Detectives.