The U.S. Coast Guard won't be installing lights on the Florida jetty where Miami Marlins star Jose Fernandez crashed his boat, killing himself and two others.
The Coast Guard announced in a news release Thursday that the color-coded, lighted buoys and lighted range markers in place were sufficient. The determination follows an analysis that began last fall.
Miami-Dade County officials said earlier this month that the Government Cut jetties at the southern end of Miami Beach posed a serious threat to boaters. The Coast Guard determined installing new lights could possibly create confusion and impair safe navigation.
"The Coast Guard takes its Aids to Navigation mission very seriously and strives to provide the most effective and safest navigable waterways to the public and commercial mariner communities," Capt. Megan Dean, commander, Coast Guard Sector Miami, said in a statement. "We cannot stress enough to all waterway users to adhere to existing channel aids and use all available means to navigate safely on the water."
Fernandez and two other men died when the 24-year-old pitcher's 32-foot boat struck the jetty just after 3 a.m. Sept. 25. A toxicology report determined alcohol and drugs were a factor.
