MARATHON, Fla. -- A Michigan woman who was boating with her family in the Florida Keys died Thursday after an eagle ray jumped out of the water and struck her in the face, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

Judy Kay Zagorski, 57, of Pigeon, Mich., was with her parents on a boat when a 75-pound spotted eagle ray "actually jumped out of the water and collided" with her, FWC spokesman Jorge Pino said. It appeared that the force of the collision knocked her into a metal railing on the boat.

"It happened within a fraction of a second," Pino said. "There's nothing that anybody could have done any differently. There's nothing that the father, who was operating the vessel, could have done differently. There's nothing that the victim could have done differently. It's just a freak accident."

Zagorski was taken to Fishermen's Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. She had arrived from Michigan on Wednesday to visit her parents, who spent much of Thursday afternoon grieving privately at their home, just a few doors down from where Zagorski's father had docked the boat after the incident.

FWC investigators said it didn't appear that the eagle ray's barb pierced the woman's body.

"We're not going to make that determination until after the autopsy is completed, but at this point we're working under the assumption that she died as a result of the impact," Pino said.

The eagle ray landed in the boat but did not die. It was returned to the ocean, according to the FWC.