KEY WEST, Fla. — A 51-year-old St. Petersburg woman is dead after a boat fire early Wednesday morning in the Florida Keys, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office and her family.
Linda Vella was on board a yacht with her husband, 58-year-old Michael Robson, and her son, 21-year-old Anthony Vella, deputies said on Facebook. The fire broke out on the 70-foot Viking yacht just after midnight Wednesday near the Peary Hotel & Marina on Stock Island, authorities said.
The St. Petersburg family was there for the lobster mini-season, authorities said.
When fire rescue crews arrived, they reported the boat was fully engulfed in flames. Crews said they battled the blaze for about three hours before it was extinguished.
The yacht was completely destroyed in the blaze. Vella's husband and son were both airlifted to a local hospital in Miami, deputies said. Vella has not been found, but is presumed dead, the sheriff's office said.
The search for her body is still ongoing with the sheriff's office dive team and TowBoat U.S. crews working to find her.
Another family of four was able to get off the yacht uninjured, the sheriff's office said.
The cause of the fire is still unknown, but the investigation is still ongoing, deputies said.
Lisamarie Vella, who identified herself as Vella's daughter, set up a GoFundMe to help raise money for her mother's funeral expenses.
Vella's daughter said she woke up to a "nightmare," learning a "tragedy" happened causing her parents' boat to go up in flames.
She adds her brother and dad are in "critical condition" at a Miami burn center. And, her mother's dog also "didn't make it off the boat."
"We all love u. You were the best mom. The best friend. You were all I had," the GoFundMe says in part. "You were the glue that kept our family together I don't [know] how I'm going to live this life without [you]."