One man is battling for his life as the sole survivor of a tragic boat crash. Family and friends of Neal Kirby told WINK News that he underwent surgery and continues to recover.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Knight, along with Brenna and Craig Millet, died Saturday in a powerboat crash on the Caloosahatchee River. The community has rallied to support everyone affected by the crash.<\/p>\n
WINK News reporter Haley Zarcone spoke with those who know Kirby. One friend expressed disbelief at the tragedy, highlighting the tight-knit nature of the local boating community.<\/p>\n
Jeremy Zielinski, a friend of Kirby, shared his thoughts.<\/p>\n
“I think the boating community is hurting right now from seeing this,” said Zielinski.<\/p>\n
Zielinski, who has been friends with Kirby for years, described the deep bond they shared over boating.<\/p>\n
“We’ve stayed friends throughout the years. And obviously, you know, he was a huge boater,” said Zielinski.<\/p>\n
Zielinski showed pictures from Kirby’s Facebook, emphasizing Kirby’s passion for boating.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“I think his boat was like, for a parent, like our kids. So it’s like the boat was his kid,” said Zielinski. “A lot of them knew him, you know, they knew his boat. And, you know, I think mentally, you kind of say, hey, that could have been me.”<\/p>\n
As Kirby continues his recovery, his friends are eager to show their support.<\/p>\n
“To the family you know, take care of them, get them healthy, and we’re all cheering for you,” Zielinski said.<\/p>\n
Kirby’s family released a statement acknowledging the long road ahead for him.<\/p>\n
“He faces a long road ahead and is mourning the tragic loss of his friends. Our hearts are with the families who lost their loved ones during this time,” the statement said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One man is battling for his life as the sole survivor of a tragic boat crash. Family and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[11735,38574,209,211,210,16372,39414,40210,15785],"class_list":{"0":"post-69022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-caloosahatchee","9":"tag-caloosahatchee-river","10":"tag-cape-coral","11":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","12":"tag-cape-coral-news","13":"tag-jeremy-zielinski","14":"tag-neal-kirby","15":"tag-sole-survivor","16":"tag-survivor"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}