WATCH ABOVE: Surveillance video has been released of the charter boat that rammed into a Ruskin restaurant in thick fog last Monday.
TORONTO – A number of people in Florida are lucky to be alive after a boat came speeding out of the water late Monday afternoon and smashed into a restaurant on Bahia Beach.
“I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff, but this takes the cake,” said witness Tobias Sabatine in a report by WFLA. “The way that everything happened, it looked like someone is dead. ”
Dramatic images captured at the popular Sunset Grill restaurant in Ruskin clearly show a 39-foot vessel lodged nearly halfway into the building. And considering the length of beach the boat had to travel just to reach the building – it’s safe to say the boat wasn’t going slow.
WATCH ABOVE: Witnesses are shocked no one was killed when a packed speeding boat flew out of the dense fog, and plunged into a busy Florida restaurant. Melanie Michael reports.
“Anytime you have an accident on the water, there is some fault in it, we’re trying to determine what speed he was going,” Officer Baryl Martin from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission told NBC’s Melanie Michael.
The captain of the boat is reported to be Matt Santiago, who claims a dense fog caused low visibility, making it hard to determine his direction.
Seven passengers were on board the boat, while others were on the beach and in the restaurant. Only one person was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
“There was a little kid running around the beach, I’m shocked no one was killed,” added Sabatine.
The restaurant involved took to Facebook hours after the incident to thank customers for their support.
“Yes this did happen, and yes everyone is safe, there were no major injuries,” the restaurant said in a Facebook post. We will be closed until we make sure everything is safe, and the boat is removed.”
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