Fifteen people were taken to hospitals Sunday for chest pain, smoke inhalation and other injuries initially reported as not life-threatening, authorities said.
But on Monday, Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point spokesman Kurt Conover said one female passenger taken there died Sunday night.
Conover did not release the deceased passenger’s name or cause of death but said she was one of the nine patients received at that hospital after the boat fire. The eight other boat patients sent to Bayonet Point have since been released, Conover said.
A spokeswoman for Tropical Breeze Casino, which operated the shuttle, identified the deceased passenger as a 42-year-old woman.
In all, there were 50 people — 36 passengers and 14 crew — on board the Island Lady shuttle boat when it caught fire shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday in a canal off Port Richey, Fla., according to Tropical Breeze Casino spokeswoman Beth Fifer.
The Island Lady regularly shuttled passengers to and from the Tropical Breeze Casino, an offshore casino boat in international waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Fifer told The Washington Post.
The shuttle was on its way to the larger casino boat Saturday and “nowhere near the casino” when it caught fire, Fifer said. The cause of the fire was not yet known, and the boat had no previous issues, she added.
“It’s currently under investigation,” Fifer said. “We’re not ready to make a statement.”
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office originally identified the boat as the SunCruz casino shuttle, which was its former name, Fifer said.
To everybody asking for the full video. It was very terrifying, but 911 was called immediately and our whole neighborhood came together to help in any way possible when they came to shore. https://youtu.be/lr0KNqsHY3g via @YouTube
