Stingray Kills Woman on Boat in Fla.

MARATHON, Fla. -- A 75-pound stingray killed a Michigan woman Thursday when it flew out of the water and struck her face as she rode a boat in the Florida Keys, officials said. Judy Kay Zagorski, of Pigeon, Mich., was sitting in the front seat of a boat going 25 mph when the spotted eagle ray, with a wingspan of 5 to 6 feet, leaped out of the water, said Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The 57-year-old woman's father was driving the boat on the Atlantic Ocean side of Vaca Key, Pino said. "He had absolutely no warning. It just happened instantaneously," Pino said. The collision knocked Zagorski backward onto the floor of the boat, Pino said. Read more...

Posted by Editor at March 21, 2008 09:34 AM