16 hospitalised following collision between two airboats in Florida Everglades

At least 16 people suffered varying degrees of injury and had to be brought to hospital after two airboats being used for guided tours collided with each other in the Florida Everglades on Friday, December 13.

Local authorities first learned of the incident at around 15:15 local time on Friday when Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officers were called to respond to an area near the unincorporated community of Ochopee in Collier County.

An initial investigation by the FWC that the two boats were carrying a total of 33 passengers when they collided. One boat was owned by Wooten's Everglades Airboat Tours of Ochopee.

Wooten's said in a statement that the company is cooperating with the authorities in identifying the probable causes of the incident.

Friday's incident is the third involving an airboat to occur in the Everglades since the beginning of the year. An airboat crash in Southwest Miami-Dade left at least a dozen people injured in January, while in March, a boat carrying 10 passengers flipped over in western Miami-Dade County.

The operator of the boat involved in the March incident was later arrested for operating a vessel without a licence.