The ferry that ran
aground late Saturday afternoon after experiencing a
mechanical issue has been removed from Bushwick Inlet.
Three
boat crew from the Coast Guard and FDNY crews sprung into full rescue mode as
the boat began to take on water and began to sink.
News
12 was told that that one crew member experienced a minor injury during the
incident. There were six other crew members on board along with 118 passengers.
Chopper 12 above the scene, 6/5/2021
The
Seastreak ferry normally goes back and forth from Highlands, New Jersey to East
35th Street in Manhattan – but the mechanical issue caused it to lose
power and lose control of steering.
Jonathan Winamer, a
passenger on the boat, says he and his family were onboard coming home from a
trip to the beach. He says his biggest concern was his 1-year-old daughter.
"The boat was
tilting and that was a little scary,” he told News 12. “When they say, ‘Everybody, go on the right side of the
boat,’ then you're thinking, like, this is a
big boat – if they're worried that our weight is
going to cause a problem then maybe it's actually going to go down. There was a
moment I got a little more relaxed when they said the boat was on the bottom of
the ground so it couldn't entirely sink."
The Coast Guard is now in charge of the investigation, saying in a statement that it is working on a full inspection of the vessel to make sure this doesn’t happen again.