According to the U.S. Coast Guard, there were 197 recreational boating accidents last year involving a person being struck by a propeller, resulting in 192 injuries and 35 deaths.
Just recently, a 14-year-old girl was seriously injured in a propeller accident off Hog Island near Orleans, Mass. After falling off a motorboat, she sustained life-threatening injuries when she was struck by the boat’s spinning propeller. According to CBS Boston, the propeller broke her hip and leg and “tore into her flesh.” Orleans Harbormaster Dawson Farber IV says she is “lucky to be alive.” While authorities are still investigating the accident, any number of factors could have caused the girl to fall into the water, such as speed or operator error.
Propeller injuries are often the result of negligence. For instance, Boston maritime attorney David Anderson obtained a settlement for the victim in a propeller injury case in which the owner and operator both acted negligently. The case involved an eighth-grade boy who was seriously injured when he and some friends took a boat out tubing with the assumed permission of the owner. The owner, while it was unclear if she had given permission for tubing specifically, had been allowing the kids to use the boat that day. Most of the kids had no experience driving the boat, and when the accident occurred, the operator was engaging in an unsafe maneuver. As a result, the victim sustained serious injuries to his head, arm and shoulder.
Did a boat propeller injure you or kill your loved one? Contact an experienced Boston maritime attorney today to learn about your rights under maritime law.
Latti Associates LLC – Boston maritime trial lawyers