Divers elude injury as boat is crushed
By Joe Brogan, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 25, 2004
RIVIERA BEACH -- Fourteen scuba divers probably escaped death or serious injury Wednesday when the dive boat they were to go out on was crushed and sunk by a 60-foot-high forklift that fell over at the New Port Cove Marina at 255 E. 22nd Court.
Duke Hebert of Northbrook, Ill., his fiancée, Ann Schuldt ; his two children; and 10 others were scheduled to leave the marina at 10 a.m. Wednesday for ocean scuba lessons aboard the dive boat Infatuation.
But boat owner Jim Abernethy canceled the trip at about 9:30 a.m. because of high winds and heavy seas.
At 9:50 a.m., when everyone would have been aboard, a boat forklift hit a sinkhole in the dock pavement and tipped over, crushing and sinking the Infatuation and a sister boat, Tranquility.
Jason Sprague, the marina center manager, who was driving the forklift, jumped free before it tipped and was not injured, said marina center owner Rick Morgan.
"I feel very fortunate today," Hebert said. "My kids and my fiancée are the three people I love most in the whole world."
Abernethy, a widely known dive master who has four boats and 20 years in business, said he lost about $300,000 in the incident, not counting lost business.
"I feel lucky," he said. "I'm just glad the wind was up. No one got killed and I won't be going to any funerals."
Abernethy said he feels the crash could have been avoided if the forklift's boom had not been fully extended, making it top-heavy and prone to tipping over.
Morgan, however, said the brand-new, $250,000 machine is built for that type of operation.
"To have gone through all of this without a scratch to anyone is a minor miracle," Morgan said.
A diesel spill the mishap caused was contained in a boom and an environmental cleanup company was taking it out of the water Wednesday afternoon.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localn...thursday/local_news_04267689f02d504b0008.html
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