They were well-known friends, socialites who traveled together between Miami and New York, mingling among the wealthy at private cocktail receptions and art openings, like the one they attended at the Mnuchin Gallery in New York City in 2017 and Glenn Ligon’s art lecture at the Miami Design District in 2019.
The two women drowned inside a submerged 2019 Mercedes-Benz earlier this week. They were found hours after the car rolled off the deck of a ferry that was taking them to Miami Beach from a nearby private island.
Viviane Brahms, 75, of Harrison, New York, and Miami resident Emma Afra, 63, were found hugging, arm-in-arm in the back seat of the car, 50 feet under water, reports said, according to Miami-Dade police.
“It’s a jarring tragedy,” Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said, according to CBS Miami. “When we heard about it, everybody just stopped and started to think about these poor souls and their families. I think the whole community is very shocked.”
The U.S. Coast Guard and Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue received the first emergency call about the accident around 5 p.m. Tuesday.
The car went overboard in a shipping channel called Government Cut between Miami Beach and Fisher Island, a wealthy and exclusive resort community where the women departed.
Dive teams conducted multiple searches before finally locating the Mercedes with “two deceased females inside,” police said in a news release before the women were identified.
The ferry ride across Biscayne Bay to Miami typically takes about 10 minutes, reports said.
Reports say Afra, who lived on the Island, was identified as the driver.
Almost as soon as the ferry left the island, witnesses said the car accelerated abruptly, ran through the boat’s protective barriers and plunged into the waters, the Miami Herald reported. Residents of Fisher Island speculated whether Afra may have accidentally stepped on the gas pedal and forgot to put on the parking brake.
“We figured perhaps she touched the accelerator instead of the brake. That’s what everyone is thinking,” said Fisher Island resident Diane Siegel, according to CBS Miami. “I have been living here for 23 years, and this has never happened.”
The Miami Herald also cited sources close to the investigation who said they believe Afra forgot to put her car in park, then accidentally hit the gas when the car began rolling.
A sign on board the ferry warns drivers to use their parking brakes, and as an added precaution, ferry workers are required to place wooden parking blocks against the base of each car’s tires to keep them from rolling, the Miami Herald reported.
The investigation is focusing on the boat’s safety standards, the Herald reported.
The car reportedly drove off the front of the ferry.
Photos shared on social media show there was no real protective barrier in place at the entrance that could have stopped the car from rolling into the water.
Both the front and back of the vessel are supposed to be closed off by sturdy metal chains, reports say.
Aerial photos of the ferry after the accident show a mesh material bannered across front of the deck that had been apparently ripped down by the Mercedes as it went overboard.
“The netting on the Fisher Island ferry is pretty insufficient,” Miami-based maritime attorney John Hickey said, according to the Herald. “It’s pretty flimsy. It’s not going to hold anything back.”
“Other ferries that I’ve seen have large steel barriers which also form the ramp,” he said.
There were no surveillance cameras on board.
The 113-foot ferry, known as the Pelican, passed a Coast Guard inspection last month and has been in service since 1981. It is one of four ferries owned by the Fisher Island Community Association, which issued a statement Thursday saying the community was in mourning and that it was fully cooperating with the investigation.
“In light of the recent tragedy, we are looking at ways to improve our operations, working closely with our marine engineers, architects and designers to find ways to help ensure a calamity like this is never repeated. Our hearts and prayers continue to be with the families at this time.”
Reports say Afra was a volunteer for Kristi House, a nonprofit organization that opposes child sex trafficking and abuse. She took a break from the organization following the death of her husband in 2016, reports say.
A former organization board member who worked with Afra described her to the Herald as “very charming, lighthearted, sweet, very lively.”
Fisher Island routinely ranks as America’s richest or most expensive ZIP code, with an average annual income of $2.2 million.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Miami-Dade Police Department are continuing to investigate.
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