Last edited by raisedbywolves; 11-18-2022 at 04:12 PM.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...women-n1138471
Emma Afra and Viviane Brahms
Last edited by raisedbywolves; 02-19-2020 at 02:19 PM.
I did a quick Facebook search...
https://www.rapsheetz.com/florida/mi...sUbGSH2I0z6IIc
How long is the ferry ride?
I smell a lawsuit. A very expensive one.
Yikes. It's just a canvas barrier.
Women who died after car fell off Fisher Island Ferry identified
Safety measures were already happening on board the Fisher Island Ferries Wednesday as workers were spotted placing tire chocks in front of vehicles. They were also asking drivers to engage their park brake, but very little still separates the cars from the water.
The U.S. Coast Guard monitors a total of five ferries which shuttle people and vehicles to and from Fisher Island around the clock.
?The Pelican,? which was involved in Tuesday?s incident, was inspected just last month.
After fatal plunge from Fisher Island ferry, women found embracing in back of sunken car
Emma Afra had taken the short ferry ride from her home on the wealthy Fisher Island enclave countless times.
But sources familiar with the investigation told the Miami Herald on Wednesday that they believe Afra forgot to put her Mercedes in park and hit the gas pedal by mistake when the vehicle started rolling.
That working theory is based on what witnesses told Miami-Dade police: that the car accelerated suddenly through a lightweight barrier aboard the Pelican ferryboat and into Government Cut, just after the ferry departed from the island on Tuesday evening.
The apparent freak accident claimed Afra, 63, and her passenger, 75-year-old Viviane Brahms, of Harrison, N.Y. Hours later, police divers found the car upside down 52 feet below the surface. It was a heart-wrenching scene: The two friends were discovered in an embrace in the back seat of the car, according to multiple sources.The ferry ride is less than two miles, and usually lasts between 8 and 12 minutes. Passengers ease their cars into one of four numbered lanes aboard the Pelican, entering the back of the boat to exit on the opposite side at docking.
A sign reminds drivers to engage the parking brake as they wait inside their vehicles.
The crew places blocks, known as chocks, under the tires to keep the vehicles from rolling. Although the chocks are not required by law, the Pelican?s crew is believed to have been using them that day to secure the vehicles, including the Mercedes, said Coast Guard spokesman Jonathan Lally.
Investigators believe the car may have just accelerated over the chocks. But the vessel was not equipped with any video recording system that would have captured the accident, sources said.
Afra?s 2019 Mercedes-Benz S560 was the lead car in the first lane ? its front just feet from a thin netting strung across the edge. Aerial footage of the boat after the incident shows the empty space where the Mercedes was, with the netting crumpled.
Weisbrod, of the ferry association, said photos of the Pelican?s barrier show it was nothing more than a visual barrier to mark the edge of the vessel. ?As opposed to something really effective, something that would hold back a roll,? she said.
As a contrast, she pointed to the tiny Balboa Island ferry in Newport, Calif., which has a heavy metal gate on each end to protect or slow cars from going over the edge.
The Balboa Island ferry gate, for comparison....
Ugh. I could have gone my whole life without hearing about how they were found
There has to be video footage of the incident, I would think. Surveillance cameras on board. It's crazy for me to think that none of the crew confirms that all of the cars are in park and have the parking brake engaged. And the car shut off? That seems like common sense to ensure all of that before taking off from the dock. Even the car wash people make sure you're in neutral before going in.
Plastic surgery (if not used too much) can make you look young, but I definitely wouldn't want to look like the woman on the right (lady looks like a dude to me).
My mom is 64 and she looks good for her age (Asian genes).
I think elderly people should stop driving/take a lot more defensive driving courses as they get older.
Too many old people drive into buildings, because they mistake the gas for the brakes.
I don't understand why she didn't hit the brakes, emergency brake or just open the door and hop out? Was the car running and she hit the gas by mistake?
Someone above posted an article that said the driver hit the gas instead of the brakes. Since her car was first in line and it doesn't look like the water was that far from the front of the car, she probably didn't have time to hit the brakes or jump out. I saw a Mythbusters episode that said once the car depressurizes underwater, you should be able to get out.
I'm assuming they had nothing to break the windows and they were too panicked to try to get out.
Yeah, *if* you can stay calm, you can get out. In theory, but I would imagine it's hard to stay calm. I keep a glass breaker/seat belt slicer tool in my console. Just in case.
I read they're allowed to keep their cars running on the ferry, found that a little strange. I guess she drove slowly on, went to step on brake but stepped on accelerator instead and no decent barrier to stop the car.
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