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Two die in weekend boating accidents
March 24, 2008
Contact: Capt. Richard Moore, 850-410-0656
A Quincy fisherman died late Sunday afternoon after he
and a friend were ejected from their vessel on Lake Iamonia, north of
Tallahassee.
Johnny Carlton Brandon, 49, Quincy, was transported by
LifeFlight to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, but he did not survive.
Fellow passenger Aaron Dienger, 37, Tallahassee, was pulled from the
water unharmed. He credited his survival to Good Samaritans who
came to the boaters’ aid.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
(FWC) is investigating the fatal boating accident.
Brandon and Dienger left the public boat ramp near
Highway 12 on Lake Iamonia around 5 p.m. Brandon was operating the
12-foot homemade boat from the front of the craft using stick steering.
Dienger told FWC investigators that they turned
abruptly, throwing him and Brandon overboard. Both men were
wearing heavy clothes. Brandon reportedly wore boots.
Neither man wore a life jacket, but the jackets were on board their
vessel.
Leo Mosley, his sister Crystal Mosley, and friend Brian
Dodson of Havana, were fishing nearby and heard the men hollering for
help. They pulled both men on board their boat, but Brandon was
unresponsive.
In an accident Saturday in the Keys, 72-year-old
Francisco Anaya died while fishing near Duck Key when he fell overboard
trying to untangle fishing line from his boat’s propeller. The
Long Key resident was not wearing a life jacket.
Florida has registered eight boating fatalities since
Jan. 1. Seven of the fatalities could have been prevented by
simply wearing a life jacket.
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