Seastreak wall street ferry crash hurts 57 in New York

Seastreak wall street ferry crash hurts 57 in New York

A New York passenger ferry has hit a dock during the Manhattan rush hour, injuring 57 people and tearing a hole in the vessel's bow. Eleven people have been seriously injured, the Associated Press reports.


The Seastreak Wall Street ferry hit the mooring as it docked about 08:45 (13:45 GMT) after a trip from New Jersey. The ferry, which was carrying about 340 passengers and five crew members, was able to dock and witnesses say people rushed to disembark.

Of the 57 people injured, two were in a critical condition and 29 had minor injuries, New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan told reporters. She said the boat had struck the dock at about 10-12 knots (11.5mph - 13.8mph; 18.5km/h - 22.2km/h).

Passengers who had been standing, waiting to disembark, were hurled to the deck or launched into walls as the Seastreak hit the dock. 

"We just tumbled on top of each other," Ellen Foran of Neptune City, New Jersey told the AP. "I got thrown into everybody else... People were hysterical, crying."

The most seriously injured passenger suffered a severe head wound by falling down a stairwell. The BBC's Barbara Plett says Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan has not closed as a result of the collision, avoiding a major disruption to water traffic. A woman who witnessed the crash from the dock told CBS News the 140ft (43m) vessel did not appear to have been coming in at high speed, but said "it was a very hard hit".

"It had pulled in - starting to pull in - and what it did was it hit the right side of the boat on the dock hard, like a bomb," Dee Wertz told the television station.

In a statement, the ferry company said it would work with investigators to determine the cause of the accident.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with those that were injured," the firm said.