Mass casualty in deadly ferry crash leaves at least one dead in Florida
The U.S. Coast Guard and police described the incident on Sunday as a 'mass casualty event' as they worked through the night to pull people ashore.
The Clearwater Ferry was shuttling festivalgoers to and from the final night of the 17-day Sugar Sand Festival when it was hit by a private boat carrying six people.
That boat swiftly fled the scene as the ferry - carrying 43 passengers and two crew - was forced to come to a rest on a sandbar near the Memorial Causeway bridge.
Photos show the extent of the damage to the small ferry, with parts of the roof torn down and plastic chairs shattered from the impact of the collision.
Other pictures captured the moment passengers were led to safety on shore with first responders standing on the sandbank as they assessed the ferry.
In all, six passengers were described as 'trauma patients' and rushed to various hospitals around the state.
Two of them had to be airlifted to hospital in the medical helicopters which arrived to assist.
The remaining passengers were assessed and treated by ten ambulance and emergency service vehicles which responded to the initial call.
Clearwater Police Department issued a statement on Sunday night urging motorists to avoid Memorial Causeway as they rushed patients to various hospitals.
Police said: 'We're working a boat crash off the Memorial Causeway bridge that has resulted in multiple injuries.
'It's been declared a mass casualty incident by the fire department due to the number of injuries. All local hospitals have been notified.
'Multiple trauma alerts have been called with helicopters transporting two of the more seriously injured.'
Police also revealed the 'boat that struck the ferry fled the scene' after the crash. It was later located with six passengers on board - none of whom were injured.
'We believe that the boat responsible for hitting the ferry left the scene immediately, and we believe that our law enforcement partners may have that boat,' Clearwater Police spokesperson Rob Shaw said.
Several pictures appear to reveal the moment the suspected driver of the boat was escorted from the Belleair Boat Ramp south of the crash site with an investigator.
One of the ferry passengers, Marco Vacheco, told 10 Tampa Bay that they were 'hit from behind'.
He said: 'It was like a big yacht, it hit from behind, like it came through where the captain sits, like he was pinned down.'
His pregnant wife Brenda Alvarez told ABC Action News she 'hasn't felt the baby move' since the crash and was about to head to the hospital to get checked out.
'I'm a little worried I haven't felt the baby move. It's very scary.'
Alvarez, who was on board with her husband and their two children, fell between two seats as the collision occurred. She said the impact caused her 'whole body to hurt'.
'We just wanted to get to our cars and get home. We never, you never expect anything to happen.'
She went on to say that it's hard to truly comprehend 'how fast [the other boat] was going, how that was even logically possible.
She said: 'It's horrible. It shattered, it shattered the whole back of the boat, left a huge dent.'
But Alvarez praised first responders who bravely rushed in to assist her children off the ferry.
She said: 'Where we were, it was really shallow, so there was actually some paramedics that went out there and helped my children and I get off the boat.'
It's understood as many as 12 patients were rushed to various hospitals, with more still evaluated on the scene.
All of the injured patients were on board the ferry at the time of the crash.
'I don't even know how many ambulances are there. Every minute there's more and more. This is awful.'
Police said emergency crews had removed every passenger and patient from the ferry by about 10.30pm and had accounted for everyone.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will lead an investigation into the crash.
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