Weeks after a devastating sailboat-barge collision in Miami Beach, another tragedy has struck South Florida — this time leaving one teenager dead and another seriously injured.
The incident happened Tuesday afternoon in Fort Lauderdale on the Intracoastal Waterway near the 2800 block of Northeast 24th Court, according to reporting from local media. The girls were riding tandem on a personal watercraft around 3:30 p.m. when they allegedly crashed into a dock.
Both girls were taken to the Broward Medical Center where one of them died and another remains seriously injured.
While authorities have not named the girls, they were identified in reporting from The Miami Herald as sisters from a prominent family in the Queens, New York, Bukharian Jewish community. The girl who tragically passed was identified in the article as 13-year-old Rachel Aliza Nisanov and the other was identified as 16-year-old Aviva Bracha Nisanov.
The crash remains under investigation by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Leesfield & Partners
Following these closely spaced incidents involving young children on the water, the critical need for safety and awareness has never been more apparent. The hearts of the attorneys and staff at Leesfield & Partners go out to the girls’ families and the firm extends its deepest sympathies. As a personal injury law firm based in coastal cities like Key West and Miami, Leesfield & Partners has seen the toll that boating tragedies can have on families and individuals.
The firm’s Founder and Managing Partner, Ira Leesfield, has remained outspoken on critical safety issues and the need for greater accountability across Florida’s tourism and hospitality industries.
“The dangers from boating incidents are entirely underestimated as South Florida becomes more congested, drinking on the water becomes more prevalent and distractions from cell phones and other devices increases,” he said. “Important safety standards must be enforced on all watercrafts.”
For nearly five decades, Mr. Leesfield and the attorneys at Leesfield & Partners have been strong advocates for sober boating, life jacket use and other critical safety practices to help prevent these tragedies.
In years litigating these tragic cases, our skilled trial attorneys are familiar with just how dangerous personal watercrafts can be. Data from the FWC’s annual boating accident report shows that there was a total of 685 reportable boating incidents in the state in 2024 with 81 fatalities and nearly 400 injuries. Of these incidents, at least 149 involved personal watercraft such as jet skis. Over half of these PWC accidents were caused by a collision with another vessel. At least 12 people were killed and 113 others were injured in these crashes, the data showed.
In an article discussing such crashes, Partner Justin B. Shapiro explained that no other water-related activity produces more injuries than jet ski crashes. The reason is twofold — not enough people are prepared for the sheer strength needed to maneuver these watercrafts through the waves and, though they are marketed as “beginner friendly,” the reality is starkly different.
“As the summer months yield their inevitable slew of injuries, prospective renters should be aware of the life-threatening dangers of jet skis, and their attorneys should be intimately familiar with the many regulations that were enacted to keep them safe,” he said.
Previous Jet Ski Crash Cases
Leesfield & partners’ six skilled trial attorneys have secured numerous multi-million dollar settlements for clients and their grieving families at the hands in nearly five decades.
In the last several years alone, the firm has secured more than $10 million in verdicts and settlements for clients injured as the result of jet ski crashes in the state.
One avoidable death that altered the life of a couple forever resulted from a Key West rental company flouting necessary safety training requirements, as mandated by law. The company failed to ensure that every one of their renters understood the safety tutorial and knew how to operate the personal watercraft that day. A French-speaking renter, who they did not adequately prep, fatally collided with the wife of a Leesfield & Partners client. The company failed to provide their customer with the translation he needed to understand how to use the jet ski.
Leesfield & Partners attorneys were able to secure a multi-million-dollar settlement for the family in that case.
In another jet ski crash, a man visiting from California with his family was seriously injured when he violently crashed into a concrete bridge piling. The man was on a guided jet ski tour with his family at the time. The guides, who are required to prep their customers for the strong currents they would face, led them through a narrow bridge opening and sped far away from them throughout the tour the day the man crashed.
Leesfield & Partners previously represented a jet ski crash victim who suffered serious injuries and obtained a $1 million recovery for that client.
The firm secured a $935,000 recovery for a client involved in a jet ski collision with a boat.
A $900,000 recovery was obtained for a client injured in an accident involving a jet ski company.
A jet ski crash case involving a rental company resulted in a six-figure settlement amount obtained for an injured Leesfield & Partners client.