A 39-foot fishing boat was finally removed from a popular beach-front restaurant in Florida on Wednesday.
The boat came flying out of dense fog, barreled more than 50 feet on land and slammed into a popular restaurant just before dinner time on Monday.
The incident — which sent at least one person to the hospital — happened at Little Harbor in Ruskin, at the popular restaurant, Sunset Grill.
On Tuesday, Matt Santiago, 31, founder of the Tampa Bay Fishing Guide Association, was cited for recklessly operating the vessel, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
The 4-engine SeaVee brand boat — which was estimated to be going 40 to 50 mph — came out of nowhere at around 4:45 p.m. Monday afternoon, the newspaper reported. The boat ran over several kayaks and paddles, some of which were still under trapped under the boat.
Seven people were onboard, including the owner of the boat, when the vessel barreled onto the beach and plunged into the restaurant. Witnesses claim it was operated by well-known local captain, Matt Santiago.
Santiago faces up to a $1000 fine or a year in jail, if convicted in the incident.
On Wednesday morning, a special crane came to the beach and lifted the yacht onto a large trailer, which then took the boat from the scene on land, according to WTSP-TV
Two vacationers in town from the Poconos were sitting on the beach and couldn’t believe what they saw. They were feet from dying.
“I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff, but this takes the cake,” said Tobias Sabatine. “The way that everything happened, it looked like someone is dead. There was a little kid running around the beach, I’m shocked no one was killed.”
Two people on the boat suffered minor injuries and one person was taken to a hospital for treatment, WTSP-TV reported.
Officer Baryl Martin from Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission said, “Anytime you have an accident on the water, there is some fault in it.”
The building was turned over to Hillsborough County Code Enforcement.
