Dramatic scenes in New York!
Hundreds of Staten Island Ferry passengers had to don life jackets during an evacuation. The cause was a fire in the engine room.
The 94-metre-long vessel, used on New York’s ferry service between Manhattan and Staten Island, stopped suddenly near the Statue of Liberty around 5:00 pm (local time) on Thursday. According to the New York Fire Department, there were 868 passengers and 16 crew members on board who were rescued and brought ashore by other ferries.
The scenes, recorded by several witnesses and published on the Internet, are frightening: dozens of passengers are wearing life jackets and crowding tightly to the emergency exits.
Ivan McCall was on board, he said Website „silive.com“ after the near disaster: “The smoke was so thick you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.” The commuter continued: “They threw life jackets into the crowd, panic broke out, some cried in fear…”
The staff behaved professionally and the firemen and police were also well prepared for the exceptional situation. According to consistent U.S. reports, passengers were rushed to the higher decks for fresh air. An integrated fire suppression system put out the flames with nitrogen.
The crew avoided worse
“It was very scary,” said another passenger, “I was on the phone with my boyfriend the whole time. I’ve never seen anything like it.” The boat involved in the accident was the “Sandy Ground Ferry”, which was only registered this year.A spokesman for the ferry company commended the captain, chief engineer and the rest of the crew for their quick and exemplary response.
Lucky in bad luck: According to the NYPD, there were no deaths or serious injuries, five people were treated with minor injuries. Fire Department spokesman Frank Leeb said the fire was under control. However, emergency services must wait at least 24 hours before they can open the engine room.
Now it is being determined how the near disaster could have happened the day before Christmas Eve.
