MIAMI , Florida ( CNN ) -- A woman who died after she was hit by a spotted eagle ray leaping from the water off the Florida Keys suffered `` multiple skull fractures and direct brain injury , '' a medical examiner said Friday . The dead spotted eagle ray lies on the deck of a boat in Florida . Judy Kay Zagorski , 55 , of Pigeon , Michigan , died Thursday of `` blunt force craniocerebral trauma '' after the ray hit her when she was in a boat , Monroe County medical examiner Michael Hunter determined . He gave no indication in the preliminary report whether the blow from the ray itself or her head hitting the deck , or both , killed her . `` It 's just as freakish of an accident as I have heard , '' said Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission . `` The chances of this occurring are so remote that most of us are completely astonished that this happened . '' Zagorski was on the boat with her father and other family members and friends . She was seated or standing in the front of the vessel as it was traveling about 25 mph out of a channel , Pino said . `` The ray just actually popped up in front of the vessel , '' he said . `` The father had not even a second to react . It was too late . It happened instantly and the woman fell backwards and , unfortunately , died as a result of the collision . '' The accident happened off the coast of Marathon Key , about 2½ hours ' drive south of Miami . Zagorski was taken to the Fishermen 's Hospital in Marathon , where she was pronounced dead . Watch marine officers work around dead ray on boat » . Pino said he had seen rays leap into the air , but added , `` it 's very rare for them to collide with objects . '' Watch experts explain why eagle rays leap » . The spotted-eagle ray weighed about 75 to 80 pounds and had a 6-foot wingspan , Pino said . Watch officials investigate eagle ray collision » . Florida Fish and Wildlife said eagle rays `` are not an aggressive species , but they do tend to leap from the water . '' Spotted eagle rays can have a wingspan of up to 10 feet and can weigh 500 pounds , it said . Learn more about eagle rays » . Television personality Steve Irwin was killed when a ray 's barb pierced his heart in September 2006 . A month later , an 81-year-old Florida man , James Bertakis , survived after a ray leaped from the water and stung him in the heart , according to the Orlando Sentinel . He spent five weeks on a ventilator and his recovery took several months , his sons told the Detroit Free Press in his former home state of Michigan . E-mail to a friend .
NEW : Woman suffered brain injury , multiple skull fracture , medical ethics rules . Spotted eagle ray leaps from water , strikes woman on head , officials say . Victim was 55-year - old woman from Georgia . Spotted eagle ray weighed 75 to 100 pounds , official says .