South Florida Injury Attorney Blog

A Connecticut woman on vacation in Pompano Beach, Florida died in a parasailing accident in August. Her harness allegedly failed, causing her to fall about two hundred feet to the water. The accident prompted an investigation by state and federal authorities, which is still underway. An organization that advocates for parasailing safety is calling for regulations related to the activity’s safety. Few regulations at the federal, state, or local levels address the many safety concerns surrounding the activity, which can be popular among beach vacationers in Florida.

Parasailing involves one or more people towed by a boat or other vehicle while harnessed to a parasail wing that resembles a parachute. As the vehicle moves forward, the parasailer is lifted into the air by the parasail. The parasailer has little to no control over his or her own movement while in the air. A sufficiently powerful vehicle can enable two or more people to parasail in tandem.

During the afternoon of Wednesday, August 15, 2012, a husband and wife were parasailing in a side-by-side harness, towed by a motorboat. The woman’s harness reportedly broke while they were between 150 and 200 feet in the air. The boat captain had to allow the man to descend before retrieving his wife from the water. She was pronounced dead at Broward Health North later that day, with blunt trauma and asphyxiation listed as the causes of death.

The Miami Herald reported on the captain of the boat, who has a valid captain’s license from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). The USCG is investigating the matter with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also joined the investigation, making this the first investigation of a parasailing accident at such a high level of government. The investigation is reviewing both the equipment itself and the possibility of operator error. It remains unknown, therefore, whether defective equipment or negligence contributed to the accident.