A woman from Michigan died after a 75-pound stingray leaped from the water off the Florida Keys on Thursday and struck her while she was on a fishing boat with her family.

“It’s a bizarre accident. A large ray jumped out of the water and collided with the victim,” said Jorge Pino, an officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, according to Reuters.

The impact was so big that it threw the woman backward and she hit her head on the vessel.

"The ray just actually popped up in front of the vessel. 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,” Pino said.

The woman was identified as Judy Kay Zagorski, 57, of Pigeon, Michigan.

The accident happened about 10 a.m. as Zagorski's father, Virgil Bouck, 88, was driving the 25-foot boat about 25 mph through Vaca Cut toward the open Atlantic Ocean, Pino said.

On the same board, there were also Zagorski’s mother and sister.

Spotted stingrays are common in warm or tropical waters and are often seen near coral reefs. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s Web site, they can grow to more than 8 feet and have two to six short, venomous barbs near the base of their whip-like tails.

Stingrays usually jump to escape predators, not to attack.

In 2006, a spotted eagle ray leaped onto another boat in Florida waters off the Fort Lauderdale area and pierced the heart of an 81-year-old man with its barb. He survived.