Keys woman killed by spotted eagle ray

[76Red18]

Heard a woman was killed when an eagle ray jumped into her boat. Did it hit her or sting her? We see them jump around here all the time. Never heard of one landing a boat though. Tarpon fisherman usually see a tarpon or two land in their boats while fishing in Boca Grande Pass.

[Mark]

The ray jumped and a boat going along at 25-30mph collided with it. Apparently it knocked the woman down who hit her head on the boat and that was the culprit, not the ray itself (all the ray did was knock her over).

I was out fishing last Sunday and we saw hundreds of very large rays jumping as high as 10'. Have no idea why they were doing it but it was quite the site to see. I'm a bit surprised this doesn't happen more often. I had to violently swerve the boat to miss an airborne ray a few years ago and I suspect I'm not the only one to have had a close call.