TAMPA, Fla. -- Five people have been rescued and one person is dead after a boating accident near Davis Islands.
Authorities identified the victim as 57-year-old Alberto Marrero-Tamayo from Tampa.
Tampa Fire Rescue says six people were spotted hanging onto a buoy in Hillsborough Bay south of Davis Islands early Saturday afternoon. Tampa Police air patrol tossed them life preservers.
One of the survivors swam to a nearby island where MacDill’s Marine Unit picked them up.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officials say six people were on the boat. The condition of the five other people rescued is not known.
Authorities do not know what caused the boat to capsize. They will have to pull it out of the water and investigate if the cause was human error, mechanical or weather-related.
ABC Action News spoke with a boater who saw all the police presence and said he had planned to go out on the water but the conditions he saw first-hand stopped that quick.
“Right out here the ship’s channel the water is real deep," said Jimmy Gres, "But I think the worst thing weather-wise is the direction of the wind and the strength of it just makes the Bay really choppy.”
ABC Action News spoke with one of the survivors who did not want to go on camera.
The survivor said the water was rough and within two minutes water completely filled their boat. He said the pump couldn’t drain it out quickly enough and they had no choice but to swim and after 10 to 15 minutes. Marrerro-Tamayo just couldn't hang on any longer and drowned.
