The airboat-tour company involved in Friday’s boating accident in the Everglades has broken its silence. The Collier County accident sent 16 people to local hospitals.
“Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours regrets that a collision involving two airboats occurred this afternoon…” the Ochopee company posted in a statement dated Friday, Dec. 13. “All of us at Wooten’s offer our sincere sympathies to everyone involved, and wish them a speedy recovery.”
Wooten’s reopened for business Saturday. The company didn’t respond to requests for comment from the Naples Daily News.
Details about the Everglades airboat crash in Collier County
FWC, staff and other first responders work at Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours in Ochopee, Fla., after two airboats crashed on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is leading the accident investigation, but no new information about the patients or the accident was available Saturday, according to FWC public information director Hailee Seely.
The crash happened around 3:15 p.m. Friday near Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours, located on Tamiami Trail/U.S. 41 in Collier County, Seely wrote Friday. It involved two airboats carrying 33 passengers.
“Preliminary information indicates that two airboats, one with 20 persons on board and another with 13 persons on board, were near Ochopee when they collided, injuring multiple passengers,” Seely wrote in an email Friday. “This is an open investigation. No further information is available at this time.”
In the airboat company’s statement, Wooten’s said it “immediately contacted local area emergency authorities, who responded rapidly to the scene, providing care to the passengers. Following the accident, we began working with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the sheriff’s office to aid in their investigations, which are ongoing.”
Two airboats collided Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, near Ochopee in the Everglades. Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission is leading the investigation at Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours. Sixteen people were sent to local hospitals, according to FWC.
FWC is investigating the accident with help from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, the Greater Naples Fire and Rescue and Collier County Emergency Medical Services.
— Charles Runnells is an arts and entertainment reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. To reach him, call 239-335-0368 (for tickets to shows, call the venue) or email him at crunnells@gannett.com.
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This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Everglades airboat crash: Wooten’s issues statement about Collier accident
