Sixty passengers are injured after a ferry crashed into Pier 11 in South Street Seaport this morning.
Around 8:45 am, a ship carrying over 300 passengers from Atlantic Highlands on the Jersey Shore rammed into the pier at a speed of approximately 13 miles per hour, according to Janette Sadik-Kahn, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation since 2007. Those onboard were sent flying at the moment of collision. After the ferry was properly docked, EMTs arrived at the scene to assist injured riders; many were placed on stretchers as a precautionary measure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWWcfeDieOA
According to the Huffinton Post, the decade old ferry was set to “undergo a major mechanical overhaul” in the coming months and changes had already been made to the ship’s jet propulsion system in order to cut fuel costs. This same ferry was damaged in two minor accidents, one in 2009 and the another in 2010, according to the Coast Guard. Although the cause of today’s crash still remains unknown, evidence suggests the vessel itself was not up to par.
This accident is a clear indication that New York City’s tranportation systems need to be reassed in terms of safety. On October 15th, 2003, the Staten Island Ferry crashed into the St. George Ferry terminal, killing eleven people and injuring dozens. Just last month, Ki-Suck Han was struck and killed by a Q train after he was pushed into the tracks (a photograph published by the New York Post of Han struggling to pull himself back onto the platform seconds before his death was highly criticized for its innapropriate nature and decision of the photographer to shoot instead of assist the man). New York City’s Department of Transportation (DOT) is going to have to put more care towards achieving their Strategic Plan’s safety goal of “making the nation’s safest big city even safer.”
