The 911 calls of a watercraft crash that killed a 9-year-old boy and his father in the Florida Keys reveal moments of terror for multiple witnesses who reported an “explosion” when the victims rammed into a seawall.
Jose Dominguez, 47, and his son, Daniel, were on a 2018 Yamaha personal watercraft when they struck a concrete seawall near Castaways Waterfront Restaurant in Marathon shortly before 7 p.m. on Aug. 13.
“There’s a jet ski accident right across the canal,” one caller explains in one of the calls, which were released on Tuesday. “I don’t know how many people were on the jet ski, but they slammed into the wall… I think they landed on the ground. I don’t think anybody’s in the water.”
Other callers relay similar details, saying the watercraft was coming fast and at least one person appeared to have been flung onto the ground “because he hit it at 50 mph.”
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“There’s just a jet ski explosion… I didn’t really see it, I just heard it, but I think he like, ran straight into the seawall, and he’s like, on land,” another caller says.
The 911 operators send ambulances and police, and the calls keep coming.
“I think it was two people on it… honestly the one got flung onto the concrete. I’m not sure where the second one is, I’m on the far side of the canal, we just watched it from the restaurant windows here,” a different caller says.
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One of the callers appears to be a child, who screams in Spanish, “Ayuda por favor!” or “Help please!”
Through panicked breaths he explains how old the victim is.
“Send the ambulance, quickly!” the caller says. “They are outside because they were coming to the bridge and I think my uncle do gas… and they hit the bridge.”
The father and son, who were wearing personal floatation devices, died from their injuries, a report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.
In surveillance video released after the crash, the pair come into the frame twice. They are wearing life jackets, and it appears that Dominguez has his son in front of him before they round a corner.
The FWC said alcohol was not involved in the crash, which remains under investigation.
