FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Two people have died after they were injured in a boat collision over the weekend in Fort Lauderdale, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced Tuesday.
Authorities said Andre Neves, 37, of Pompano Beach, and Juliani Da Costa Maria, 29, of Boca Raton, were taken to Broward Health Medical Center after the Saturday night crash, where they later died.
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Neves' family released a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying that Neves was a boat mechanic who moved to the U.S. from Brazil when he was 18.
They said he is survived by his wife, who he has been with since they were teenagers, and his 4-year-old son, Logan.
"He loved his friends and family, and his greatest joy was helping others and bringing smiles to peoples faces," the statement said. "If anyone needed help with a boat or car, he was your guy. He would help you without a second thought. One of his favorite things was being on the water on his boat. He could be found there most of the time. He loved his boat and took such great care of it. He was an expert on the anything nautical, as that was his passion."
According to the FWC, authorities responded about 10:30 p.m. Saturday to a crash in the Intracoastal Waterway near 31st Street, a short distance from Bokampers Sports Bar & Grill.
Authorities said a 2000 31-foot Angler, operated by Max Irvine, 36, of Deerfield Beach, collided with a 1998 22-foot Twin Vee, operated by Neves.
"One of the boats, they didn't have their headlights on, and they had like a head-on collision with the other boat, and the guy fell off and he hit his head," Gabi Downey, who witnessed the crash, said.
Another witness saw several bottles of alcohol inside one of the boats, but it's not clear if alcohol played a role in the crash.
Authorities said Neves and one of his passengers, Da Costa Maria, were taken to Broward Health Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.
Two other people on board the boat, William Roundtree and Evelyn Roundtree, both 26 and from Boca Raton, were also taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Irvine and his passenger, Amanda Macke, 34, of Fort Lauderdale, were not injured in the crash.
It's unclear whether anyone will face charges in the crash.
Below is the full statement from Neves' family:
Andre was born in Brazil in 1979 and moved to America when he was 18. He was married and had a 4-year-old child. He has been together with his wife since both of them were teenagers in Brazil. He loved his friends and family and his greatest joy was helping others and bringing smiles to peoples faces. If anyone needed help with a boat or car, he was your guy. He would help you without a second thought. One of his favorite things was being on the water on his boat. He could be found there most of the time. He loved his boat and took such great care of it. He was an expert on the anything nautical as that was his passion.
He was one of the lucky people who were able to work with something he loved, on boats. He was a boat mechanic who worked on several areas on the boats, as he knew every part of these machines. There is only one thing that he loved more than being in/around the sea, his son, Logan. If he wasn’t working, he would want to be with his son. If anyone looks on his Facebook you can see what he most loved, his son. His son was his world as can be seen in his pictures of how happy he was with is son. On his last day on earth he was with both of the things his son and the sea. His son came home with such excitement exclaiming about how happy he was that he spent his last day with his father on his boat and they had the best day ever. Later that day his father went out again on his boat and the events of that night transpired. We loved him as a son, father, husband, brother, friend and loving person. We love him and miss him tremendously. He was able to see because of a cornea transplant he received years earlier. One of his wishes were to help others if anything ever happened to him. We take solace in knowing that even though he has passed, he will help countless people live through donation. We want to thank everyone for their love, prayers and support. We truly see how much he is loved and we love all of you.
Sincerely, his family.