A 51-year-old woman was reported missing after a fire occurred early Wednesday morning on a yacht in the Florida Keys.
The fire broke out shortly after dawn, when the yacht was docked in front of the Perry Hotel and Marina on Stock Island in Monroe County.
According to the County Sheriff's Office (MCSO), the woman was on the 70-foot Viking yacht with two family members, two men ages 21 and 58, who managed to escape the fire and were airlifted to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
The woman resides in the city of Saint Petersburg, Pinellas County.
MCSO spokesperson,Adam Linhardt, said that the missing woman and her family were visiting the Florida Keys for the lobster mini season.
The sheriff's office dive team and others continue the search.
Another family of four was on the boat and escaped unharmed.
County fire crews were in charge of extinguishing the fire. Finally, the yacht sank at the dock.
Kristen Livengood, spokesperson for the Department, revealed that the 911 call occurred around 12:15 am and that the fire was extinguished around 3:00 am.
For his part, Linhardt said that MCSO divers and TowBoatUS crews searched for the woman "while negotiating dangerous conditions where the boat sank in the marina."
The cause of the fire is being investigated.
Last February, aFire destroyed a yacht that was docked in a Miami marina one morning, located at 860 Northeast and 78th Street.
When firefighters arrived, they found the ship completely engulfed in flames. It took 30 minutes to control the fire.
There was no one on board at the time of the incident and there were no injuries.
The event occurred during the week of the 2023 International Yacht Show, which brings together more than a thousand boats and about 100,000 visitors from around the world.
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