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Parasailing Problems

February 13th, 2014 by flanews

There have been 21 parasailing accidents in which six people have died since 2001. Lawmakers are saying enough is enough when it comes to deadly parasailing accidents.

It’s not easy for Crystal White to talk about her parasailing accident 7 years ago in Pompano Beach.  Her sister Amber was killed, and Crystal was severely injured.

“I just remember screaming and yelling down for the operator of the boat to help me and my sister,” said White.

The same goes for Alexis Fairchild, who suffered an accident last July in Panama City.

“I don’t remember hearing anything, I just remember feeling it in my body and just knowing that it snapped, and I remember screaming,” she said.

Fairchild was parasailing with a friend when their line broke away from the boat, causing the two to slam into a building. She’s now helping to push a bill that would require parasailing companies to have minimum insurance policies, shut down during bad weather, and maintain certain equipment

Supporters for the bill say that parasailing operators are backing the regulations, but it’s not the big companies they’re worried about.

“What we’re looking at is some of the smaller operators who want to take one more ride before the storm comes in,” said bill sponsor Sen. Maria Sachs.

Legislation has failed to reach the floor in past years, but Sachs feels it will get therein 2014

“We’re tired of these types of injuries that could have been prevented,” she said.

The bill would prohibit parasailing if the wind was blowing at more than 20 miles per hour or if a lightning storm was with seven miles of the area. The victims told a Senate committee that if the regulations had already been in place, their accidents wouldn’t have happened.

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