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Two people died Sunday morning in separate Palm Beach County boating incidents, authorities confirmed Tuesday.

A Melbourne woman was killed Sunday morning when she and her husband were caught under a dive boat off Riviera Beach in Palm Beach County,  the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

The incident might have violated rules that Palm Beach County issued March 22 for the coronavirus outbreak. Those rules close all marina operations. County officials said Tuesday they were researching the issue.

Mollie Ghiz-Flynn, 37, was killed at about 10 a.m., FWC said. The 48-foot commercial dive boat Southern Comfort was about 1½ miles southeast of the Palm Beach Inlet and divers were returning to it, when Ghiz-Flynn and a second diver were pulled under the boat. FWC’s report does not say how that happened.

The agency said the boat’s propeller struck and trapped Ghiz-Flynn, and other divers and crew were unable to free her.

Others on the Southern Comfort eventually pulled her aboard and gave her CPR. FWC and the U.S. Coast Guard brought the boat into the Riviera Beach Marina, where Riviera Beach Fire-Rescue met them, FWC said.

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The agency said the other seven divers were not hurt. FWC was not able to say which of those was the second diver pulled under the boat. But Ghiz-Flynn’s father, Jack Ghiz, said Tuesday that it was her husband, Sean.

Ghiz said his son-in-law was “traumatized” but not injured. “I commend him for doing a valiant effort,” he said.

He called his daughter “the most wonderful, beautiful person in the world. She could do no wrong. She was glue to the family. Everybody loved her.”

The divers other than Ghiz-Flynn and her husband aboard the Southern Comfort on Sunday morning either could not be reached for comment or declined comment to The Palm Beach Post.

FWC agency said the boat was piloted by Dustin McCabe, 44, of Port St. Lucie. Calls to telephone numbers listed for him were not returned.

According to webpages, McCabe works for Florida Scuba Charters, based in North Palm Beach. A person who answered the telephone at Florida Scuba Charters on Tuesday afternoon hung up after a Post reporter identified himself.

FWC said no citations or charges have been filed this week but that its investigation isn’t finished.

Rules that Palm Beach County put in place March 22, and then amended March 23, say that countywide, “all boat docks, ramps, marinas, and any other venues utilized for launching any vessels to be used for recreational purposes, including, but not limited to fishing charters, boat tours, diving excursions, and the like, are hereby closed until further notice.”

The ruling applies within the county’s cities, towns and villages and the areas outside them.

Gov. Ron DeSantis handed down an executive order Monday that might lead the county to amend those orders. But the county rules that were in place Sunday meant a dive boat operator leaving from a marina would be in violation.

Violations of the emergency orders could constitute second-degree misdemeanors, punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.

“We can’t stop somebody from going out. We can’t chain boats to the dock,” North Palm Beach Marina general manager Josh Stieb said Tuesday.

Stieb said some dive operators are able to argue that they’re covered by the rules’ exemption for commercial fishermen, because their divers do catch fish and they have state licenses for that. He said he was familiar with Florida Scuba Charters only in passing.

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