Stingray Update

“A Florida official said the woman died when she hit her head on the boat deck.”

Dear CNN,

I told you so.

- Science Says

From CNN.com:

The accident happened off the coast of Marathon Key, in the Florida Keys about an hour’s drive south of Miami. The woman, who was with her husband and children, was taken to the Mariner Hospital in Tavernier, where she was pronounced dead.

Pino said he had seen rays leap into the air, but added, “it’s very rare for them to collide with objects.”

The spotted-eagle ray weighed about 75 to 80 pounds and had a six-foot wingspan, said Pino.

The Monroe County Sherriff’s Office has full photos of the boat and ray up online here

EDIT 3/21/08: The medical examiner officially ruled the woman’s death an accident, and the head trauma caused from hitting her head on the boat as the official cause of death. Additionally, one detail left out of the original reports was that the boat was moving at the time of the accident.

“Judy Kay Zagorski was sitting in the front seat of a boat traveling 25 mph on Thursday when she was struck in the face…Authorities say Zagorski was not stung by the ray’s barb.”

I don’t remember too many of those physics calculations, but 75 pounds of ray at 25 miles per hour is a lot of force.