Wednesday, July 3, 2013

2013 A New York passenger ferry has hit a dock during the Manhattan rush hour.

A New York passenger ferry has hit a dock during the Manhattan rush hour, injuring scores of 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 boat, which was carrying about 340 passengers and five crew members, was able to dock and witnesses say people rushed to disembark.
Of about 70 people hurt, two were in a critical condition, New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan told reporters.
'Like a bomb'
She said the boat had struck the dock at about 10-12 knots (11.5mph - 13.8mph; 18.5km/h - 22.2km/h).
AdvertisementThe BBC's Barbara Plett says passengers had no warning ahead of the crash
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 news agency. "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 network.
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.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has visited the scene of the crash, along with senior police, fire and emergency management officials. Police said the boat's crew passed alcohol breath tests given after the crash.
The cause of the accident was under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The ferry, built in 2003, had recently undergone a major overhaul that gave it new engines and a new propulsion system, but officials said it was too soon to tell whether the upgrades had played any role in the crash.Manhattan, an island, is served by several commuter ferry lines, the largest of which brings passengers from the Staten Island borough.
In 2003, 11 people were killed and dozens injured when a Staten Island ferry boat crashed into a pier on Staten Island, across New York Harbor from Manhattan. Dozens more were injured in a Staten Island ferry crash in 2010.

Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20962553

2012 Zanzibar ferry capsizes, killing dozens, 140 dead

(CNN) -- Rescuers were scheduled to resume their search Friday morning for survivors of a ferry that sank off the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, killing 60 people and leaving more than 80 people unaccounted for, the Red Cross said.

As night fell Thursday, crews halted their search until the next morning, the Red Cross said.
The vessel with about 290 people aboard -- including 31 children -- capsized near Zanzibar on Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the agency's office in Tanzania.
About 145 people have been found alive, and rescue operations are ongoing, said Raymond Kanyambo, a spokesman for the agency.
Authorities intensified efforts Thursday by using army helicopters, government troops and boats.
Strong winds and rough waves, which officials blame for the capsizing, complicated ongoing rescue efforts, he said.
Ferries in the region often carry passengers not included in the manifest, making it hard to pinpoint the exact number of people aboard.
The ferry was traveling between the Tanzanian commercial capital of Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, the Indian Ocean archipelago popular with tourists for its pristine sandy beaches.
Bangladesh ferry death toll rises to more than 100
Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania.
The capsizing Wednesday is the latest such disaster in the popular tourist destination of Zanzibar in less than a year.
More than 200 people perished when a crowded ferry traveling between two islands of Zanzibar sank in September. In that incident, the ferry had a capacity of about 600 passengers, but was carrying more than 1,000 people, officials said at the time.
Tanzanian authorities charged five men with negligence in the September capsizing, including the owner of the ferry and the captain.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/19/world/africa/tanzania-zanzibar-ferry-sinks/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

2012 Ferry Shariatpur-1 capsizes in Bangladesh, 32 + dead

Dhaka, Bangladesh (CNN) -- Rescuers searched frantically for survivors after a packed ferry carrying at least 250 people capsized in southern Bangladesh, killing at least 32 people, police said Tuesday.
The MV Shariatpur-1 sank in the Meghna River after colliding with a cargo ferry early Tuesday while passengers slept, a survivor said.
"We were seven in a cabin in the ferry, and six of my family members are still missing," Mohammad Dulal Dewan told CNN.
"Everything happened before I could understand anything."
The 55-year-old survivor said he "jumped into the river and was rescued by people in another passing ferry."
Dewan and his family were traveling to Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, to see his brother-in-law off to the United States. Shamim Fakir was scheduled to fly on his U.S. trip early Wednesday, Dewan said. He was still missing Tuesday evening.
Mohammad Azizul Alam, the administrative chief of Munshiganj district, said officials had received a list of 61 missing people from families and the death toll might increase.
"We believe many bodies are still trapped inside the sunken ferry, and the rescue operation is still on," Shahabuddin Khan, police chief of Munshiganj, told CNN.
Khan said divers from the Bangladesh navy and the Fire Service and Civil Defence took part in the operation in addition to police and the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority.
The water authority's chairman, Khandker Shamsuddoha Khandaker, told reporters the ferry had been traced 70 feet (more than 20 meters) under water.
About 30 people were initially rescued after the ferry collided with the cargo boat on the river in Munshiganj district, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Dhaka. The ferry was traveling to the nation's capital from Shariatpur district.
Ferry accidents are common on Bangladesh's vast river network. Hundreds of people die in such accidents every year as the operators often ignore rules. Nearly 4,000 people are estimated to have lost their lives in ferry accidents since 1977.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/13/world/asia/bangladesh-ferry-sinking/index.html?hpt=wo_c2