Ferry strikes NYC dock; at least 50 are injured

Ferry strikes NYC dock; at least 50 are injured

NEW YORK (AP) — A commuter ferry from New Jersey crashed into a dock in lower Manhattan during the rush hour this morning, injuring at least 50 people, at least two critically, officials and witnesses said.

Passengers aboard the vessel, the Seastreak Wall Street, said scores of people who had been standing waiting to disembark were hurled to the deck by the impact.

“We were pulling into the dock. The boat hit the dock. We just tumbled on top of each other. I got thrown into everybody else. ... People were hysterical, crying,” said Ellen Foran, 57, of Neptune City, N.J.

The accident, which ripped open part the boat’s hull like an aluminum can, happened at 8:45 a.m. at a pier near the South Street Seaport, at Manhattan’s southern tip.

Firefighters were still carrying people away on flat-board stretchers an hour after the crash.

More than 340 passengers and crew members were aboard the ferry, which had arrived from Atlantic Highlands, N.J., a section of the Jersey shore still struggling to recover from Superstorm Sandy.