Tuesday’s boating accident on Manhattan’s West Side claimed the lives of two Colombian relatives who were on vacation and injured 11 others.
Two dead after boat capsizes in Hudson River
The two victims, Julian Vasquez, 7, and Lindelia Vasquez, 47, were among a group of family members that boarded the Stimulus Money jet boat in Elizabeth, New Jersey on Tuesday afternoon for a tour down the Hudson River.
Eleven additional family members—at least six women and three men—all from Colombia—were hurt.
They are between the ages of 19 and 53.
The licensed, Elizabeth-born boat captain, 24, sustained injuries as well.
Four boat passengers were transported to Mount Sinai West with non-life threatening injuries in addition to those who were slain.
The victims were staying at a hotel in Elizabeth, New Jersey, along with their bigger family.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams remarked, “This is a tragic moment for them and those who are a part of the families that were there, and as New Yorkers our heart goes out.”
Investigators believe the 27-foot Yamaha boat got tangled in the wake of a passing boat when it overturned close to the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum.
The owner of the boat was riding a jet ski behind it.
Just after 2:45 p.m., marine and ground units from the FDNY responded to the Hudson River near West 46th Street and Pier 84 in Midtown Manhattan.
According to authorities, the 47-year-old woman and 7-year-old kid perished after becoming trapped beneath the boat.
Firefighter Ryan Warnock of the FDNY stated, “Obviously whenever it’s a youngster, it changes maybe your emotional state, but you just do what you have to do, and you train for this that’s what we’re here to do.”
When Warnock arrived at the hospital, it was too late for both the woman who had also been imprisoned and the 7-year-old boy who had been discovered. Rescue workers had done everything they could to save them.
Without the quick action of a New York ferry service that happened to be passing by at the time, the outcome of the boating catastrophe could have been much worse.
Two of the company’s ferries responded, according to a statement from the New York Waterway Ferry operator. Nine passengers on the boat were saved by its crew.
A New York Waterway Ferry employee said, “We kicked in and did what we had to do. We put on our life jackets, flipped the boat and flipped the adjacent cradle down, and started taking the passengers out.”
An observer noticed what happened on one of the ferries.
“We were on the boat ferry when we witnessed a boat capsize, everyone on the boat was screaming, so the ferry halted, they threw out life jackets, and then we hauled them up one by one,” Marsow recalled.
Some of the same crew members from U.S. Airways Flight 1549, commonly known as the “Miracle on the Hudson,” which made an emergency landing in the Hudson River more than ten years ago, were on board the ferry.
On Monday evening, divers removed the watercraft from the Hudson River.
Investigators are examining the total number of passengers aboard as well as their weight.
They claim it is too early to determine what went wrong.
According to NYPD Harbor inspector Anthony Russo, “We had the current and the wind so you could have wakes approaching from different directions, waves from different ways.” “It’s never safe to operate near the Hudson River.”
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