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Many hurt in ferry accident in New York
Many hurt in ferry accident in New York
NEW YORK (CNN) -- As an 8 a.m. ferry made its final maneuvers across the Hudson River, Elizabeth Banta watched in horror as dozens of her fellow commuters were tossed like rag dolls into the air and against the ship's walls and windows.
Packed with more than 300 passengers, the high-speed vessel crashed into a Lower Manhattan port near Wall Street on Wednesday, leaving dozens bloodied and in pain.
"There was a large jolt," said Banta. "It felt like we were in a car crash."
At least 57 people were injured, two of them critically, as emergency crews rushed the wounded on stretchers to nearby hospitals.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, but by late Wednesday afternoon, the National Transportation Safety Board had already deployed an investigative team to the scene.
The ferry, operated by Seastreak, provides daily service between Atlantic Highlands and Highlands in New Jersey to piers in Lower Manhattan.
A large gash could be seen on the front of the vessel.
Witnesses said several passengers had been waiting at the top of a stairwell aboard the ferry as it approached the dock and were knocked off their feet amid the crash.
"I saw a lot of bleeding heads with white bandages (and) a lot of people strapped to boards," said Julie Westfall, who witnessed the incident's aftermath.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with those that were injured," Seastreak LLC said in a statement, adding that it would work with authorities to determine what caused the incident.
Thirty-one people were transported to New York's Bellevue Hospital. Of those, all were considered non-critical and were expected to be released later Wednesday.
This is not the first time that this particular ship has been involved in a crash.
Coast Guard records indicate that the same Seastreak ferry in 2009 slammed into a New Jersey dock and tore a 2- to 3-foot gash in the starboard bow of the vessel.
A year later, a collision with a dock pile punctured a hole in the port side of the same boat.
Wednesday's crash also drew comparisons to an unrelated 2010 incident when a ferry with mechanical problems crashed into the Staten Island Ferry terminal, injuring 36 people.
That ferry, the Andrew J. Barberi, was the same vessel involved in an October 2003 crash that killed 11 people and injured 42. It is considered one of the worst ferry accidents in the city's recent history.