Umair
One person died and three others were missing, including two children, after a small boat capsized on a river near Jacksonville, Fla., on Friday night, the authorities said.
The U.S. Coast Guard received reports of an overturned vessel around 7 p.m. near Goat Island, which is north of Jacksonville. No one was wearing life jackets, according to a Coast Guard news release.
Officials said that the people on board had set out to take photos of the sunset while on the St. Johns River, which is the longest river in Florida and winds through and around Jacksonville.
The marine unit of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office rescued four boaters who were perched atop the overturned boat. According to the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, none of the survivors were taken to a hospital.
There were four others thought to have been underneath the boat. Divers from the sheriff’s office did not find any people underneath the boat, however.
“A Coast Guard Station Mayport rescue surface swimmer attempted to contact the people reportedly underneath the vessel but received no responses,” according to the news release.
A crew from the sheriff’s office discovered a person in the water who was dead, said Capt. Eric Prosswimmer, a spokesman for the fire department.
It was not immediately clear what caused the boat to capsize. Additional details about those on board were not released.
“It’s an 18-foot watercraft boat — a pleasure craft so to speak,” Captain Prosswimmer told reporters on Friday night. “We have recovered the boat, and it was flipped. We flipped it back over, and it was towed back to the dock.”
Crews from the Coast Guard, Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, the sheriff’s office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were engaged in the search. Two helicopters were also deployed in the search.
The weather was calm in Jacksonville on Friday evening, with a light breeze and passing clouds.
