Tag Archives: accident

Random Events, Free Will or Something Darker?

NEW YORK CITY FERRY CRASH – AT LEAST 50 INJURED, 1 CRITICAL.


View SEASTREAK WALL STREET FERRY CRASH AT LEAST 50 INJURED ONE CR in a larger map

At least 50 people were injured, two critically, after a commuter ferry slammed into a dock Wednesday morning in Lower Manhattan.

The Seastreak Wall Street ferry from Atlantic Highlands, N.J., banged into the mooring as it arrived at South Street around 8:45 a.m. Wednesday. One person is in critical condition with head injuries.

Those on board said passengers were waiting to disembark and were hurled on the deck after the impact.

“We were pulling into the dock. The boat hit the dock. We just tumbled on top of each other. I got thrown into everybody else. … People were hysterical,” said Ellen Foran.

Those injured were being treated at the scene. There were no immediate details of the injuries and reports on the number of those injured vary.

The Coast Guard said it will be administering drug and alcohol testing  on captain and crew as soon as the injury count concludes.

A corner of the ferry was ripped open like a tin can.  Fire fighters were seen setting up a temporary staging area on the dock, with stretchers and other medical equipment, and some passengers were being removed from the ferry on stretchers for evaluation.  A passenger, Ellen Foran of Neptune City, N.J., said people tumbled on top of one another, hysterical and crying.

More than 340 passengers and crew members were aboard the ferry from New Jersey, one of many that carry commuters to the island of Manhattan.  Dee Wertz was on shore waiting for the ferry and saw the impact.  “It was coming in a little wobbly,” Wertz said.  “It hit the right side of the boat on the dock hard, like a bomb.”  After the impact, the boat was able to dock normally. Wertz said “passengers raced off once the ramp came down.

I think people just wanted to get the heck off the boat as soon as they could,” she said.

Ferry company officials were at the scene.

Ferries are a fairly common way to commute to work in Manhattan, an island separated from New Jersey and the rest of New York City by several rivers.

MORE AT  Ferrys crew to take drug test after NYC crash injures dozens | Fox News.

 

Random Events, Free Will or Something Darker?

Dozens Hurt in I-95 Tour Bus Accident | NBC New York

1 Comment

State police are investigating what caused a tour bus to slam into a guardrail and then a concrete wall on  I-95 in New Rochelle early Wednesday, injuring dozens and wreaking havoc on traffic. Authorities said it does not appear any other vehicles were involved in the accident between exits 15 and 16 at about 6:30 a.m. Multiple lanes on the highway were blocked off as authorities transported two dozen passengers, most of whom suffered minor neck, back and head injuries, to hospitals and tried to piece together what happened. State Police Captain Evelyn Mallard said the bus hit the center guardrail while traveling south on I-95. The forceful impact sent it veering right across three lanes and smack into a concrete wall a tenth of a mile away. No other vehicles were hit.

At some point, the bus driver got out of the vehicle or was ejected, Mallard said. He was bleeding when police got to him, but was conscious and alert. Other passengers were described as the “walking wounded.”

Mallard said the speed of the bus when it first struck the guardrail was unknown. It also wasnt known if the driver was cut off or fell asleep, or if the weather played a factor, but she said the accident could have been far worse. Deputy Fire Chief of New Rochelle Robert Benz said the bus remained in gear after hitting the concrete wall and was still coasting on the highway. A state trooper moved his cruiser in front of the bus to bring it to a halt, investigators said.The bus was headed for a hill and if it hadnt been stopped, “it would have been catastrophic,” said Mallard. According to federal safety records, the Star Tag bus company has not had any reportable accidents in the last two years. The company has a satisfactory safety rating. Investigators are reconstructing the accident at the scene.


View Larger Map

Read the full story: Dozens Hurt in I-95 Tour Bus Accident | NBC New York.

 

Random Events, Free Will or Something Darker?

Riders say N.Y. bus crash driver swerved

1 Comment

Passengers and witnesses to a horrific New York City crash that sheared the top off a bus headed for Manhattan’s Chinatown and killed 14 people told investigators that the driver’s account of getting clipped by a tractor-trailer didn’t match up to what they felt and saw before the vehicle slid off the road and into a sign pole.

Driver Ophadell Williams had told police that his World Wide Tours bus was hit just as it crossed the New York City line early Saturday on a trip from the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut.

But passengers said Williams had already swerved at times to the right for no reason before the accident, a law-enforcement official said Sunday. The official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the probe and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The bus was returning to New York’s Chinatown after a quick overnight trip to the casino. The official said that passengers said they didn’t feel anything hit them and that other motorists on the interstate highway said they didn’t see the bus get hit. The official said police spoke to the tractor-trailer driver, who said he was following the bus.

via Official: Riders say N.Y. bus crash driver swerved – USATODAY.com.