DESTIN — The wreckage from last week’s fatal boat crash at the Mid-Bay Bridge was lifted from Choctawhatchee Bay on Friday afternoon, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
But there are no new details about the accident that killed 47-year-old Robert Williams, 18-year-old Taylor Evanoff and 21-year-old Jamilia Beltz, all of Niceville.
The FWC and Coast Guard used a crane on a barge to lift the 336 Cobalt boat from near the bridge. The job took one to two hours.
The salvage team initially tried to take it to Legendary Marine in Destin, but had to switch locations because the tide was too low, FWC investigator Sulin Schafer said.
The boat eventually will be taken to a secure location in Panama City while the accident investigation continues, Schafer said.
There was damage to the front of the boat consistent with a crash, she said. Officials believe the boat rammed a piling of the bridge either late Dec. 5 or early Dec. 6.
Investigators will try to reconstruct the crash with the evidence, she said.
“As far as trying to figure out the way that it hit and the dynamics of it, that is going to take some work,” Schafer said.
Officials believe a taxi dropped Williams, Evanoff and Beltz off at Legendary Marine before the accident. No details have been released on when they launched the boat from the marina.
Williams was Bay High School boys basketball coach for five seasons, with regional appearances in each season and the school’s first state Final Four berth in 2003. Williams left Bay in 2004. He was born in Port St. Joe and a graduate of Wewahitchka High School and Gulf Coast Community College.