Woman dies after boating accident in Sebastian
A Sebring woman has died from injuries she received Saturday night when the boat in which she was a passenger struck a piling in the Indian River about 100 yards east of docks at Captain Hiram’s Resort.
Julie Carlson, 39, died Sunday at Holmes Regional Medical Center, said Joy Hill, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Game Conservation Commission, which is investigating the accident. She was airlifted to the Melbourne hospital Saturday night.
Hill said Carlson was in a 22-foot center console boat being operated by her husband, Jeffrey D. Carlson, 40, when its port bow hit a glancing blow off the piling.
Julie Carlson hit either the piling or a sign attached to it, Hill added. She was not thrown from the boat, which immediately returned to the dock for help.
Hill said the couple, along with Jeffrey Carlson’s brother and sister-in-law, had pulled into Captain Hiram’s earlier Saturday the evening. They left the dock sometime after 10 p.m. She said investigators reported the boat accelerated on plane before striking the piling.
“There was evidence of alcohol in the boat; cans and bottles in the boat,” Hill said.
It is expected an autopsy will be done to determine the cause of death and the accident remains under investigation, Hill added.
