JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax went out on the St. Johns River on Tuesday to get a firsthand look at the search efforts for one last missing boater, a young girl whose boat capsized late Friday.
Family friends and co-workers of the victims have identified them as Cristian Marin, his children, Juan Camilo Marin and Victoria Marin, and Nubia Romero, Cristian’s mother.
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All of them, except for little Victoria, have been located.
Reporter Madison Foglio saw many different agencies there today, all likely using sonar technology to find the child. But as one captain told Foglio, as the days stretch on, the search becomes harder.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission confirmed with Action News Jax that it and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office have dive teams out in the water in addition to boats using sonar technology.
“So this allows us to look off the both sides of the boat, you know, a predetermined depth, but you have to do it at relatively slow speeds,” Captain Tyler Barrus said. “If it’s a fast speed, it’s not going to catch the signal fast enough.”
Barrus is the lead instructor with the Freedom Boat Club Northeast Florida and the owner of Saint Augustine Boat School. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard for 4 years and 6 years with the New York State Marine Patrol. He said the main issue the dive teams are facing now is the currents.
“Down here, you have massive currents,” Barrus said. “The St. Johns river, the current is unbelievable, up through the city you can have an 8-10 mph current.”
Baruss tells Action News Jax that even if your boat is allowed to have a certain number of people onboard, you always want to have fewer than the maximum permitted to prevent it from capsizing.
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Officials are also sounding the alarm on boating safety.
“Probably 80 to 90% of people are not wearing a life jacket,” Baruss said. “It’s the reality.”
A news release from the U.S. Coast Guard said of the boat that capsized Friday, “No one aboard the vessel was reportedly wearing lifejackets.”
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Baruss said that while most people are not required to wear life vests on a boat, there is one thing that has to be available at all times.
“If somebody falls in the water, the number one thing that’s got to happen, you’ve got to get flotation into that water. And that’s why throughout the whole country, what’s called a type four PFD, personal flotation device has to be what’s called immediately available,” Baruss said. “If somebody goes in. I want to get that in the water immediately. First and foremost, it’s a flotation aid. Secondly, it’s a marker in the water.”
It’s important to note that in the state of Florida, children aged 6 years old or under are required to wear a life vest at all times.
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