New York ferry crash: at least 50 injured after boat hits Manhattan pier

More than 50 passengers on a New York commuter ferry were injured on Wednesday when they were flung across the boat as it slammed into a pier in lower Manhattan.

There were harrowing scenes at Pier 11, near the heart of New York's financial district, as 20 passengers with head and neck injuries were carried off on stretchers and rushed to local hospitals.

Officials said the vessel, Wall Street, a two-hulled craft carrying 326 passengers and operated by Seastreak, missed one slip on the pier and crashed into a second, causing a large hole on the front starboard side. The boat was moving at between 10 and 12 knots at the time of the accident.

The official tally of injured was 57, including two described as being in a critical condition, and nine serious. The more serious cases were taken to Manhattan hospitals, while passengers with non-serious injuries were taken to Brooklyn, on the other side of the East river, to avoid overloading local services.

Michael Bloom, the CEO of the Guardian in the US, was on board the 8am ferry that set off from Highlands in New Jersey and was scheduled to arrive at Pier 11 at 8.43am. He said that the vessel was still 40 or 50m away from shore, and still travelling at a fair speed, when it suddenly felt as though it hit a brick wall.

By then, many of the commuters on board had already stood up, in preparation for disembarking, and were gathering towards the front of the boat, Bloom among them. "Everyone on the boat flew forward. It was like being in a car accident," he said.

Bloom estimates that he was thrown between eight and 10 feet across the boat. His fall was cushioned because he landed on top of other passengers, and he was relatively unhurt.

When he came to, he found himself lying on a pile of people. "I looked around and realised this was bad. There were bodies on the ground everywhere, broken glass, blood.

"At first everyone was silent. Then people started calling out: 'Is there a doctor on board? Is there a medic?' There were several older folks on board, and it was clear there were a lot of injuries."

Bloom began moving around the floor of the boat, a double-deck vessel. There were people with injuries everywhere. A friend, trained in emergency health, was tending to one man who was bleeding heavily from the head.

Other passengers appeared to have suffered head and neck injuries after they were propelled into walls, seats, glass windows and each other.

Bloom praised the quick actions of the Wall Street crew, who scrambled to help the most seriously injured.

Emergency crews form the police, fire services and US coast guard were all involved in the rescue mission.

Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, visited the scene soon after the accident. An investigation will be carried out by the coast guard and the National Transportation Safety Board.

One witness on the shore said a ferry company employee had told her how the boat's crew members had recently complained about its maneuverability. "He was telling me that none of these guys like this boat," Wertz told the Associated Press. "It was coming in a little wobbly. It hit the right side of the boat on the dock hard, like a bomb."

The ferry, built in 2003, was recently the subject of an upgrade. As part of the overhaul, it received new engines and a new propulsion system.

The Associated Press noted that the Seastreak Wall Street has been in accidents before. Coast guard records said the ferry hit a cluster of fender piles while docking in 2010, punching a hole in the ship's hull. In 2009, it suffered another tear on the bow after another minor docking collision. No one was injured in either incident.

Seastreak said in a statement that it would work with investigators to determine the cause of the accident. "Our thoughts and prayers are with those that were injured," the company said.