Three snorkelers die in the Keys, and a state police boat was possibly involved with one
.jpg "A snorkeler was found dead on July 26, 2022, in the Florida Keys, officials said.")
The body of a 27-year-old man from Port Orange, Florida, was pulled from the water in the Lower Keys, and state wildlife police called it a “fatal boating accident” that possibly could have involved one of their own patrol boats.
The man had been snorkeling off Key Haven but when he didn’t surface Monday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was called in. An FWC officer was checking two vessels in the area when he was told a snorkeler had disappeared.
“Due to the FWC vessel in proximity at the time and location the accident may have occurred, the FWC has requested that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conduct an independent investigation of the incident to ensure complete transparency,” said Rob Klepper, a spokesman for the FWC Division of Law Enforcement in an email message on Wednesday.
“This is an active and ongoing boating accident investigation,” Klepper said.
Officers started searching by air and on the water, and brought in aircraft from the U.S. Coast Guard to help.
Several hours later, the man’s body was recovered.
“Preliminary information indicates head trauma from a possible vessel strike,” FWC spokesman Jason Rafter said in a statement released on Tuesday.
READ MORE: The Florida Keys may feel like paradise — but they can be deadly. What’s killing people?
Meanwhile, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office was investigating the death of another snorkeler on Tuesday and a third similar death was reported on Wednesday.
A 53-year-old man from Englewood, Florida, died during a snorkel trip in the Lower Keys.
Kale Dailey was snorkeling in Sawyer Channel at 11:24 a.m. The sheriff’s office said he was feeling ill in the water and wanted to return to a private vessel. When his condition worsened, others helped him to the boat and called 911.
FWC officers brought Dailey ashore to Blimp Road on Cudjoe Key where he died, according to the Monroe Sheriff’s Office.
A 51-year-old Tampa man died after losing consciousness in the water Wednesday just north of Key West. The man’s identification won’t be released until his next of kin is notified.
At about 12:30 p.m., the man became unresponsive in the water near Bluefish Channel. He was pronounced dead at Lower Keys Medical Center on Stock Island.
The deaths took place during the week that includes Florida’s two-day lobster miniseason, an event that draws thousands of people to the Keys and other coastal spots in the state to take their legal limit of Florida spiny lobster. It opened at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday and ends at midnight Thursday.
This story was originally published July 26, 2022 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Three snorkelers die in the Keys, and a state police boat was possibly involved with one."
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