New York: At least 37 passengers were
injured when a ferry crashed into the busy Staten Island
terminal in New York.
The ferry, Andrew J. Barberi, apparently had mechanical
problems when it crashed yesterday, authorities said.
New York Fire Department Deputy Chief Bill Tanzosh said
the impact left two breaches in the hull about 17 feet above
the water line.
The ferry was carrying 252 passengers and 18 crew members
at the time, U.S. Coast Guard Spokeswoman Barbara Miller said.
Janette Sadik-Khan, the commissioner of the city's
Department of Transportation, said that about one minute
before the ferry reached the terminal, the captain sounded an
alarm because he was unable to pull back on the throttle to
slow down the boat.
At that time, crew members tried to move passengers to
the back of the vessel, CNN quoted Staten Island Ferry Chief
Operating Officer James DeSimone as saying.
The boat was approaching the terminal at normal speed
when the accident occurred around 9 a.m., Sadik-Khan said.
"As soon as we got to the port, it just slammed right
into the dock and pushed everybody back. It was chaos,
pandemonium. It was something like I've never been through in
my life," passenger Alex Gonzalez said.
Five ferries carry about 65,000 passengers daily on a
8.36-km run between Staten Island and the southern tip of
Manhattan.
Meanwhile, The National Transportation Safety Board is
investigating into what caused a ferry to crash into
the Staten Island terminal.
Officials have already conducted alcohol tests on crew
members -- a routine procedure in crash investigations. Those
results came back negative, NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said.
The crew will also be tested for drugs, which is also a
routine process.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, May 09, 2010, 20:40