Mother Killed, Kids Injured After Tourist Boat Captain Cuts Parasail Line
(Photo: Westend61 via Getty Images)
A tourist boat captain’s attempt at keeping himself safe led to the death of a young mother, authorities said.
Supraja Alaparthi, 33, from Schaumburg, Illinois, was parasailing with her son, Sriakshith Alaparthi, 10, and nephew, Vishant Sadda, 9, in the Florida Keys on Memorial Day when her parasail “pegged” in high winds, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report cited in The Miami Herald. The condition means the sail was so full of air that it jeopardized control of the boat and risked dragging the vessel.
The captain, Daniel Couch, 49, of Marathon-based Lighthouse Parasail, cut the line tethered to the parasail harness, leaving the device adrift in the wind, according to the report. Couch thought he’d be able to retrieve Alaparthi and the two children on the way down, investigators told the Herald.
Seven Mile Bridge in Florida Keys (Photo: FilippoBacci via Getty Images)
Instead, Alaparthi and the two boys were dragged by the parasail rig along the surface of the water around Pigeon Key before colliding with the old Seven Mile Bridge — a decommissioned span that runs parallel to a newer replacement bridge — NBC News reported.
Alaparthi was dead by the time she and the children were taken to a restaurant in the Middle Keys city of Marathon, where police, Coast Guard personnel and paramedics treated them.
“The woman was deceased on the scene,” Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Estrada, a Coast Guard spokesperson, told the Herald.
A boater who raced to help Alaparthi and the kids told the Herald that he had to cut the parasail harness to free the three from the chute, which was hanging from the old bridge.
Alaparthi had no pulse, the witness said. Her son, Sriakshith Alaparthi, was battered but conscious. Vishant Sadda was unconscious and wrapped in the parasail’s lines.
Vishant was transferred to a hospital in Miami for further treatment, The Sun Sentinel reported.
“I know exactly what that captain was feeling, but you never cut the boat line, no way,” Mark McCulloh, who founded the Parasail Safety Council and pushed to strengthen industry laws, told NBC. “I would never train somebody to do that. That’s their lifeline.”
The fatal accident is being investigated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Coast Guard.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
