The officials said that the boat that would have crashed into the ferry had fled the scene and that the authorities are now looking for the ship.
Clearwater, Florida – Multiple injuries were reported after a boat collapsed in the Clearwater ferry carrying dozens of people near the Memorial Causeway bridge on Sunday evening, according to the Clearwater police service.
The managers of the Clearwater police service and fires and rescue of Clearwater are on the scene.
Rob Shaw from the Clearwater police service said 42 people were on the ferry at the time of the accident. Five people were seriously injured in the accident, he said.
Ten ambulances and two helicopters responded to the scene to take people to the hospital. Officials said six people were considered trauma patients and that two people were transported by aircraft to the hospital. Four people were taken to the hospital by ambulance.
The officials said that a call reporting the boat accident arrived at 8:43 p.m. on Sunday.
The officials said that the boat that would have crushed the ferry had fled the scene and that the authorities were looking for the ship. There was no description provided by the boat involved, but the witnesses described it as a “big yacht”.
“It was like a big yacht, he struck from behind, as if he had come where the captain is, as if he had been pinned,” recalls Marco Vacheco, who was on the ferry at the time of the accident.
Brenda Alvarez, who was also on the ferry, described the first stakeholders to help her and her children.
“Where we were, it was really superficial, so there were in fact paramedical paramedics who went there and helped my children and I go down from the boat,” said Alvarez.
The American Coast Guard takes the lead in the investigation.
It is a story in development. Come back for updates
