Miami ( CNN ) -- An eagle ray weighing as much as 300 pounds landed on top of a woman on a boat in the Florida Keys last week , throwing her to the deck and pinning her underneath it -- the `` scariest thing '' that 's ever happened to her , she said . The woman , Jenny Hausch , was on the chartered boat Friday with her husband and three children , taking pictures of a group of eagle rays as they flew out of the water . `` These eagle rays , they were flying through the air , '' said Kelly Klein of Two Chicks Charters , the captain of the boat . `` These giant things go out of the water and slam back down . '' Hausch said she was in the front of the boat , snapping away . `` The first picture I took of the ray jumping was 50 feet in front of us , '' she said . When the ray jumped again , Hausch said she was readying her camera . `` Next thing I know , it hit me square in the chest . I fell backwards and fell down , '' she said . Klein said the ray kept `` slamming and slamming on top of ( Hausch ) , trying to swim away . '' Hausch said the incident happened so fast that she did n't have time to react . `` I was just trying to push it off me as I was scooting backwards , '' she said . Hausch 's husband and children watched in horror . Florida Fish and Wildlife Officers Aja Vickers and Bret Swensson were patrolling the water near the tour boat when they heard screams . `` We turned around and looked and saw the eagle ray thrashing around in the boat and at that point we realized we had a problem , '' said Vickers . As the officers made their way to the boat , Vickers said , `` shoes were getting thrown off the boat , towels were going everywhere . '' By the time officers made it to the boat Hausch had freed herself from under the ray . Klein said the animal measured 8-feet across , and probably weighed a good 300 pounds . `` It 's just massive , it has a 10-foot tail , '' she added . Klein said everyone thought that Hausch was dead , but when she was freed she did n't have a scratch on her . Hausch said it was the scariest thing that 's ever happened to her , and she 's thankful she did n't get hurt . Hausch 's children were hysterical , but she and her husband decided to continue the charter in hopes that the incident would n't make them afraid of the water . Eagle rays can measure as much as 10 feet across and 17 feet long -- from their snout to the end of their barbed tails -- and weigh up to 500 pounds , according to the Florida Museum of Natural History . The spines on the tails are venomous and can inflict serious wounds . In 2008 , a woman died from the impact when a ray jumped out of the water and hit her as she boated in the Keys , but Vickers said both incidents were freak accidents . `` This is a total one-in-a-million chance , '' she said . `` These animals are n't attacking by any means . One theory is these animals jump during mating season . ''
NEW : It 's the scariest thing that 's ever happened to her , the woman says . Jenny Hausch was taking pictures of the rays as they flew out of the water . The ray slammed her several times as it tried to get away . Eagle rays can weigh up to 500 pounds .