A common boating mishap — running aground on a sandbar — resulted in a serious injury for a 74-year-old woman Sept. 2.
The U.S. Coast Guard Station at Cortez was contacted at about 1:48 p.m. Sept. 2 by Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg that a boat had run aground on one of the sandbars east of the Longboat Pass near Jewfish Key, and one of the passengers had sustained a serious injury.
“We got on the scene in less than a minute from the dispatch call. If we didn’t get on scene in time, it could have been much worse. She was bleeding very heavily,” said Executive Petty Officer Ekahi Lee.
Lee said the woman hit her head after the boat ran aground. One of her fellow passengers called emergency personnel.
Two members of the Coast Guard boarded the boat and administered first aid, bandaged the deep laceration, applied a neck brace and rushed the woman to the Cortez Coast Guard station, where EMS was standing by. Lee said the woman was taken to Blake Medical Center in Bradenton for further treatment.
The Coast Guard worked alongside Manatee County Marine Rescue, which also was dispatched to the scene.
Lee said the Cortez Coast Guard responds to 250-300 calls a year that range from minor to major incidents, but cases of severe injuries are not common.
“She seemed to recover well. I believe she had over 20 stitches in her head. She lost a lot of blood, “ Lee said.
Lee said the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will investigate to determine the exact cause of the grounding, but added it is common for boaters to run aground near Jewfish Key.
“It is a difficult area to navigate because of the shallow water and many sandbars. If you don’t know how to navigate the Intracoastal Waterway it’s not uncommon for guys to run aground,” said Lee.