Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A Water craft accident

This news just in. It happened this afternoon at Clearwater Beach, Florida:

Clearwater Beach, Florida -- A father and son on spring break from Illinois are both recovering from serious injuries following a freak wave runner explosion on the beach behind the Sheraton Sand Key Resort.

The accident happened shortly before 2:30 Tuesday.

Investigators say 43-year-old Christopher Jahntz had rented the personal water craft and was showing his 15-year-old son Christian how it operated.

When the father tried to start the ignition, the watercraft exploded without warning. Both he and his son were thrown into the water.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Marine Patrol, Coast Guard crews, Clearwater Fire Rescue, and Florida Fish and Wildlife officers all responded to the scene.

A family on spring break from Minneapolis jumped in the water to help pull the father and son to safety before they were transported to local hospitals.

The father, Christopher Jahntz, suffered a minor head injury, but was released late Tuesday afternoon. His son still remained at Morton Plant Hospital.

So it is not only waves or freaque waves are hazardous on the beach. Using equipments can also be extremely dangerous as this news shows. It's certainly unexpected, so it's freaque, but not waves. The personal water craft, also known as a "wave runner", is clearly not an easy toy for the un-experienced. Fortunately the father and son were only injured in this case.

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