Today’s weather was miserable – high winds, power outages, heavy rain . . . but in New York it was much worse, where 10 people died and dozens more were injured when the Staten Island ferry crashed:
A New York ferry slammed into a pier while docking in high winds on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens more as passengers’ limbs were severed and others leaped into the choppy water to escape being crushed in the wreckage.
At least 34 people were hospitalized after the Andrew J. Barberi ferry crashed at the end of its 25-minute, 5.2-mile run to Staten Island from Manhattan and tore a huge gash down the side of the bright orange boat, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
The boat which can hold up to 6,000 passengers was carrying commuters heading home from Manhattan to the city’s more residential Staten Island borough. It was unclear how many people were on board.
What an awful tragedy. Reports are also that the ferry’s assistant captain attempted suicide after the crash. And the rescue operations are still going on at the scene.
I hope they at least wait until the families have had a chance to mourn a bit before the inevitable finger-pointing and blame-shifting begins.