A very tough commute for some New Jersey residents on their way into Manhattan this morning. The Star-Ledger gets us started:
A ferry reportedly hit a mooring and injured dozens of passengers at Pier 11 at Wall Street in Manhattan shortly before 8:45 a.m.
Seastreak, LLC, which runs a route from Atlantic Highlands to Pier 11, said they were dealing with an accident at that location. Some patients were carried away on gurneys to waiting ambulances.
Reports say a large gash was gouged into the ferry boat at the dockside. Other reports say that ferry passengers have been laid out like cord wood and are being checked by NYC emergency responders.
A CNN report now says that one person is in critical condition and is being treated at a nearby hospital, police say. "Several people were thrown into the air and onto the ground," passenger says.
Link with video can be found here.
There were 326 passengers on the ferry at the time of the accident, and many people were standing near the exit when the impact occurred. While it is unclear what caused the ferry accident -- the crews passed Breathalyzer tests -- this particular ferry had been involved in previous docking crashes. A good number of us place confidence in common carriers - buses, light rail, subways, and ferries - to get to work. It's not news that these modes of transportation are equally capable of incident, we hear about bus, train, subway, and ferry accidents happening all the time. But, the peace of mind we get as passengers on these common carriers is that we don’t have to worry about the trip - we trust that the people operating these buses, subways, trains, and ferries will keep us safe.
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