Updated 6:30 p.m. Wednesday
The National Transportation Safety Board said it will interview the captain of the Seastreak Thursday morning, and begin a thorough inspection of the damaged ferry, following the accident in lower Manhattan Wednesday morning.
Seventy-four rush hour commuters were injured when the ferry experienced a hard landing at Pier 11 at 8:50 a.m. Officials said there were 326 passengers and five crew members on board.
In a statement posted on its website, Seastreak said, "We are simply shocked and stunned that this happened. We know passengers rely on us to provide safe transit on our boats - and safety is the number one concern for our company. We are very sorry this accident occurred."
The company said that if any family members needed assistance getting to one of the three Manhattan hospitals to visit a family member involved in the accident, they should call 1-800-Boatride (1-800-262-8743).
For an hour after the crash, broadcast reports showed dozens of passengers immobilized on stretchers, covered in blankets for warmth. New York Police and Fire Department members were on the scene. A line of ambulances queued up on the FDR Drive to transport patients to hospitals for evaluation. The scene, shown on live television, appeared to be orderly.
Winds were at 6 mph, gusting at 7 mph, according to WABC TV's meterologist.
People who were standing in preparation to disembark were thrown about when the boat crashed into the mooring, but people remained calm, passenger Frank McGloughlin told WABC.
Others told WABC that even though they were seated, they were slammed into the seat backs in front of them, and some felt their knees were injured.
Most injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
The following service alert was posted on the Seastreak website on Jan. 10 at 9 am.
SERVICE ALERT The 7:30 AM from Atlantic Highlands, the 8:45 AM from East 35th Street, and the 9:00 AM from Pier 11 are cancelled on 1/10/2013.
The 4:45 PM Atlantic Highlands, the 5:55 PM East 35th Street and the 6:10 PM Pier 11 departures are cancelled on 1/10/2013.
Seastreak has reinstated our 6:40 AM departure from Highlands. In addition, the 10:00 AM departure which has been temporarily operating out of Highlands will now be departing from Atlantic Highlands.
I do the same, me and my buddies call the sea streak "the menace of the seas", they do rip through boat traffic at speeds that they shouldn't. I would think however that when trying to dock something may have gone wrong with the propulsion system (hopefully it wasn't human error) and they couldn't slow down enough or in time for the impact. Hope all who are injured have a speedy recovery.
http://www.martinottaway.com/blog/rhemmen/seastreak-wall-street-efficiency
The boat didn't seem to slow down when it got to the dock. The sudden stop caused everyone and everything not nailed down to continue moving. People were seriously hurt. A lot of blood, head wounds but also injured arms and legs (muscle tears and possible bone breaks) Most of the injured were those that stood up to line up for the exit before the boat docked. Some were standing in a stairwell and were hurt pretty seriously. I hope people remain seated for now on. The crew were injured too and some seriously. They weren't in a position to help passengers. Passengers were helping the wounded everywhere. Nobody ran off the boat to get out. Basic human kindness and caring were witnessed through the entire event. People continued to help and support the wounded even when the fire/police showed. Great people, God bless them. The police / fire when they arrived took their time getting to the people. There were walking slowly. Maybe this is a necessary precaution. It was cold outside one the pier. Good thing for the blankets although it did make for a scary scene these folks needed to stay warn due to possible shock.
All the captains are like Docking Cowboys. They come in hard and fast, and then reverse quickly to stop it. This gives you no way to compensate is something goes wrong. First rule of boating/docking...Never appraoch a dock faster than you are willing to hit it. Had they had a nice slow approach, the impact would have been less severe. Especially with all this talk about how the boat did not handle/dock well, you think they'd be extra cautious. Secondly, everybody's in a rush to get off the boat. Slow down people, wait until the boat stops, then get up to leave. I go crazy when I see everyone getting up while the boats trying to dock. You know its going to reverse and throw you off balance anyway. Why put yourself at risk? I feel sorry for all those that got hurt, but sometimes people actions help cause a worse reaction.