1 dead as Florida authorities declare a ‘mass casualty' in boat crash near Clearwater bridge
The Clearwater Police Department posted on X that there were multiple injuries and the crash had been declared 'a mass casualty incident' by the Clearwater Fire & Rescue Department due to the number of injuries.
All of those injured were aboard the ferry. Police did not provide any information about the person who died.
The ferry came to rest on a sandbar just south of the Memorial Causeway bridge and all patients and passengers have been removed.
The U.S. Coast Guard said in a social media post that on-scene reports indicate that all 45 people on the ferry and all six people on the boat were accounted for. In an update on Monday morning, the Coast Guard said 12 people were taken to a local hospital.
Sunday was the last day of the Sugar Sand Festival, a 17-day sand sculpting festival in Clearwater Beach.
Police did not immediately provide any information about the boat that fled the scene.
'All local hospitals have been notified. Multiple trauma alerts have been called with helicopters transporting two of the more seriously injured,' the post said.
Videos on social media showed several first responders rushing to the scene with lights flashing.
Police cautioned drivers to avoid Memorial Causeway.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
20 minutes ago
- New York Post
Fired LA fire chief, who was blasted for slow response to deadly wildfires, sues the city
Fired Los Angeles fire chief Kristin Crowley is suing the city for her ouster, claiming Mayor Karen Bass launched a smear campaign against her after the deadly wildfires earlier this year. Crowley, whom Bass gave the axe in February for her allegedly bungled response to the Palisades Fire, accused the mayor of throwing her under the bus, her lawyers announced Wednesday. 'The claim sets out a pattern of dishonesty, scapegoating, and unlawful retaliation that destroyed the career of a 25-year public servant not because of any failure in her duties, but because she told the truth,' her legal team said in a press release. Advertisement 3 Former Los Angeles Fire Dept. Chief Kristin Crowley arrives to appeal for reinstatement as fire chief at city council meeting Tuesday, March 4, 2025, in Los Angeles. AP 3 California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tour the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades as the Palisades Fire continues to burn on January 8, 2025. Getty Images Mayor Bass had accused Crowley of failing to mobilize around 1,000 spare firefighters after the blaze broke out, as well as failing to file an after-action report. But Crowley says Bass was covering for her own choice to cut the Los Angeles Fire Department budget by $17 million — and punishing Crowley for calling attention to the problem. Advertisement '[Crowley] told City leadership and the public that Mayor Bass' budget cuts and the City's decades of neglect had left the LAFD underfunded, understaffed, and ill-equipped to handle the rising demands of a growing city, especially one at risk of dangerous wildfires,' wrote her attorneys, Genie Harrison and Mia Munro. The suit alleges the Bass administration violated California labor laws and Crowley's First Amendment rights. 3 A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire while it burns homes at Pacific Coast Highway amid a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images Advertisement It asks for unspecified damages exceeding $25,000. The suit also flatly denies key accusations Bass leveled at Crowley in February: That she failed to conduct an after-action report, that she failed to deploy 1,000 spare firefighters and 40 spare firetrucks, and that she failed to notify the mayor of dangerous weather conditions.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Poland calls a drone crash in the country's east a Russian provocation amid peace talks
Poland Crash WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's defense minister said that a flying object that crashed and exploded in a cornfield in eastern Poland early Wednesday was identified as a Russian drone, calling it a provocation by Russia. At a news conference in Warsaw, Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz accused Russia of provoking NATO during a crucial moment, as peace talks over the war in neighboring Ukraine are underway, the country's news agency PAP reported. 'Russia is provoking us once again,' Kosiniak-Kamysz said, just as peace talks have given hope that the war 'has a chance of ending.' Police said they received reports of the crash around 2 a.m. and found burned metal and plastic debris at the scene, near the village of Osiny. The blast broke windows in some nearby houses, but nobody was injured, PAP reported. Poland's Armed Forces Operational Command said Wednesday on social media that no violations of Polish airspace from neighboring Ukraine or Belarus were recorded overnight. Officials initially said the explosion may have been caused by a part of an old engine with a propeller. Lublin District Prosecutor Grzegorz Trusiewicz told reporters several investigators — both civilian and military — were examining the crash site. Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, there have been a number of intrusions into Polish airspace, raising alarm in the European Union and NATO member state and reminding people how close the war is. Solve the daily Crossword
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Judge denies Justice Department request to unseal Epstein grand jury transcripts
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge in New York who presided over the sex trafficking case against the late financier Jeffrey Epstein has rejected the government's request to unseal grand jury transcripts. The ruling Wednesday by federal Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan came after the judge presiding over the case against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend, also turned down the government's request. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her conviction on sex trafficking charges for helping Epstein sexually abuse girls and young women. Epstein died in jail awaiting trial. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. Berman said the information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts 'pales in comparison to the Epstein investigative information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice.' According to Berman's ruling, no victims testified before the Epstein grand jury. The only witness, the judge wrote, was an FBI agent 'who had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay.' The agent testified over two days, on June 18 and July 2, 2019. The rest of the grand jury presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slideshow shown during the June 18 session and a call log shown during the July 2 session, which ended with grand jurors voting to indict Epstein. Both of those will also remain sealed, Berman ruled. Maxwell's case has been the subject of heightened public focus since an outcry over the Justice Department's statement last month saying that it would not be releasing any additional documents from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation. The decision infuriated online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of President Donald Trump's base who had hoped to see proof of a government cover-up. Since then, Trump administration officials have tried to cast themselves as promoting transparency in the case, including by requesting from courts the unsealing of grand jury transcripts. 'The government is the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein file,' Berman wrote in an apparent reference to the Justice Department's refusal to release additional records on its own while simultaneously moving to unseal grand jury transcripts. 'By comparison,' he added, 'the instant grand jury motion appears to be a 'diversion' from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the Government's possession. The grand jury testimony is merely a hearsay snippet of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged conduct.' Meanwhile, Maxwell was interviewed at a Florida courthouse weeks ago by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and the House Oversight Committee had also said that it wanted to speak with Maxwell. Her lawyers said they would be open to an interview but only if the panel were to ensure immunity from prosecution. In a letter Maxwell's lawyers, Rep. James Comer, the committee chair, wrote that the committee was willing to delay the deposition until after the resolution of Maxwell's appeal to the Supreme Court. That appeal is expected to be resolved in late September.
