PortMiami reopens to cruise ships after sunken boat raised from fatal ferry collision
MONDAY MORNING UPDATE: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission released the names of the boaters involved in the crash. They’re included in the story below.
PortMiami reopened to cruise ship traffic on Sunday afternoon after salvage crews surfaced a 32-foot-boat that sank after an early morning collision with the Fisher Island Ferry left one man dead and one man hospitalized in serious condition.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Cristian Gaston Fernandez, of Cutler Bay, died. He was 27 years old. Hialeah’s Angel Dominguez, 29, was hospitalized in serious condition.
The accident and cleanup delayed travel plans for tens of thousands of people for nearly a day, including more than 15,000 passengers at sea on three cruise ships that had planned to dock at the port around 8 a.m. Sunday but were left idling off the coast while crews worked on clearing the obstructed channel.
The U.S. Coast Guard closed PortMiami following the 3:40 a.m. crash and announced just after 2:30 p.m. on social media that the port was now open after “crews have successfully recovered the sunken vessel & removed the obstruction in the North channel.”
#Update 6: Crews have successfully recovered the sunken vessel & removed the obstruction in the North channel. @USCG Captain of the Port has authorized a reopening of @PortMiami to all vessel traffic. @MyFWC @MiamiDadeCounty @MiamiDadeFire @MiamiDadePD @CityofMiamiFire @MiamiPD
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) June 25, 2023
An early morning accident
The crash happened around 3:40 a.m. east of the Pilot House Station at Dodge Island, the island of cruise ship passenger terminals that draws the attention of many crossing the MacArthur Causeway between Miami Beach and Miami.
Photos taken of the salvage operation show a mostly intact pleasure craft, with a center console control and a shade structure over the wheel known as a T-Top.
Miami Fire Rescue Lt. Pete Sanchez said the U.S. Coast Guard told Miami Fire Rescue Fireboat 15 that a 30-foot boat hit the ferry in the channel. The man later identified as Dominguez was pulled out of the water by ferry workers, handed to the Coast Guard, then to Miami Fire Rescue for transport to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.
Though Dominguez was in serious condition, Lt. Sanchez said, he was able to say that his friend was still missing. Miami Fire Rescue dive team, leading a multi-agency search, found Fernandez, who was already dead.
Video of the area directly after the accident shows a busy scene, with the ferry drifting west slowly as rescue and other boats buzz around the area.
Andres Asion, a Miami Beach real estate broker, said he checked his security camera that points at Government Cut later on Sunday but found it was just west of the actual scene of the accident.
He shared the video it captured, a time-lapse from 3:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m, with the U.S. Coast Guard to aid in the investigation.
“Somebody was seriously not paying attention,” he said. “It is a shame.”
Travel plans delayed
The closed port stranded several cruise ships that had planned to arrive around 8 a.m. Sunday: the Carnival Celebration, Norwegian Cruise Line Escape and MSC Seascape ships.
The closure led to a day of passengers aboard the ships worrying about missed flights while enjoying an extra day at sea with reopened pools, bars and restaurants. And it led to a day of would-be passengers planning for afternoon boardings in Miami on the same ships wondering when their Caribbean vacations would begin.
By 4:30 p.m., the Seascape and Escape were docked at the port and the Celebration was preparing to dock, according to the Biscayne Bay Pilots Association website. The site listed departures Sunday for three ships between 10 p.m. and midnight. Carnival sent a message to passengers awaiting news on their Caribbean cruise leaving PortMiami on Sunday that the terminal would be open for them at 8 p.m. and that they needed to be there no later than 11 p.m.
Boat crash with Fisher Island ferry is second deadly accident involving ferry since 2020
It was the first update of the day that didn’t tell would-be passengers to stay put.
“As a result of a boating incident, PortMiami is currently closed,” a morning message read. “Carnival Celebration will be delayed docking this morning. This will impact your embarkation. Please do not proceed to the port at this time.”
With an estimated 16,000 passengers on three shifts idling off PortMiami, the delays threatened a wave of missed flights at Miami International Airport. Spokesperson Greg Chin said the county-owned airport notified airlines of the situation at PortMiami, and that all rebooking fees are being waived for cruise passengers impacted by the situation.
Closing PortMiami on Sunday disrupted travel plans for about 33,000 people, according to figures provided by Suzy Trutie, a spokesperson for the county-owned port. Each ship expected to unload between 5,000 and 6,000 passengers from a Caribbean cruise after docking on Sunday morning, and then welcome another batch of passengers for departures in the afternoon.
Fisher Island residents were alerted Sunday morning that the ferry would be out of service until the channel was reopened.
Miami Herald staff writer Alex Harris contributed to this report.
