Guest MRS WATTO Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 (edited) Three people dead in Sydney ferry crash AAP - Three people are dead and two others have been hospitalised after a Sydney JetCat ferry hit a private boat on Sydney Terrible news, Our thoughts and wishes go out to all the families involved. Three people are dead, several are injured and a 12-year-old girl is still missing following a ferry crash on Wednesday night under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. A HarbourCat ferry hit a 10-metre private boat carrying about 12 people at about 10.45pm (AEST) on Wednesday. Police said two men and one woman died after the smaller boat rolled and many of the passengers were thrown from the vessel. "We have three deceased. Two women with serious injuries have gone to hospital," a NSW Ambulance Service spokesman said. A 40-year-old woman who suffered a fractured pelvis was taken to St Vincent's Hospital, while a 35-year-old woman whose leg was partially amputated was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. A man who was initially reported missing was also in hospital with minor injuries. Four other adults and a child were taken to hospital with minor injuries and shock, which meant 11 of the 12 people believed to be on board the smaller boat were accounted for. Rescue helicopters and police divers were still searching for the missing girl. Water police, divers, police and rescue helicopters, Sydney Ferries and Sydney Ports staff, and a naval patrol boat were assisting in the search and rescue operation. The Westpac Life Saver Rescue helicopter crew had put sea dye in the water to help searchers track the currents in the area. Police said overnight it was too early to say how the accident had occurred. The HarbourCat Pam Burridge was out of service at the time and heading back to its dock when the accident happened near Pier 1 in the centre of the harbour. Members of the public and ferry staff from the HarbourCat and the Fishburn, a Sydney ferry that was passing the accident scene, dived into the water to rescue the passengers. Eyewitness Clive Marshall said the boat passengers were thrown into the water on impact. "The boat basically just disintegrated," said Mr Marshall, who witnessed the incident from the Fishburn. "There were a couple of people hanging on to the wreckage. There were people in the water around the boat." He said the people in the water were screaming and shouting for help. "It was just mayhem, you can imagine what it was like," Mr Marshall said. "We had people in the water and bits of boat and the boat sinking and people screaming for their missing friends." Ferry passengers who witnessed the incident were taken to Balmain Marine Area Command to be interviewed. Police said they had recovered the boat wreckage and both vessels would be forensically examined. They have set up a Marine Area Command hotline for concerned relatives on 1800 658 784. The ambulance spokesman said a number of people on board the private boat appeared to be related. The tragedy is the latest in a string of accidents involving Sydney Ferries. Sydney Ferries would not comment on the incident. Edited March 28, 2007 by MRS WATTO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rzep Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 That is terrible news. My thoughts go out to the families that have been affected by this tradgedy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henryinnis Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Not good at all. Hope all involved make some form of recovery and that they catch the culprit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zrealist Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 very sad news. it's been a bad week in sydney with the incident at kograh first and now another tragedy. just shows care must be taken when out on the water at all times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
locodave Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 That is said! Hope they find the girl soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Saw it this morning on the news and felt really crap after it.... All the best to the families involved and hopefully the girl will turn up safe and sound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Terrible news. My thoughts and prays go out to those involved. Hopefully the girl is found. Kurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james1990 Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 very sad news. it's been a bad week in sydney with the incident at kograh first and now another tragedy. just shows care must be taken when out on the water at all times. Didnt hear about the one at kograh? Sad event the ferry crash. cheers james Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Very sad news indeed, imo them jet cats and river cats go way to fast for such a busy waterway. Did any1 listen to 2DAYfm when John Edwards predicted a serious crash on the harbour involving a ferry.Spooky. penguin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloosh Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Sad news, prayers go out to the affected people involved... the incident @ kogarah didnt involve a boat, it was a learner driver who crashed into a bus stop, ramming into people queueing up for the bus - 1 young lady died and 12 or so were injured. its weird though the past year or two has seen a very big increase in the number of boating accidents in the harbour...me thinks some more stringent rules regulating boat use should be put in place - jst by reading the posts we see how close ferries come close to fishing boats, as well as racing yachts - the lines gota be drawn somewhere... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james1990 Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Yes i did hear about that incedent at kograh, very scary and sad stuff. cheers james Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsswordfisherman Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Very sad news indeed, imo them jet cats and river cats go way to fast for such a busy waterway. Did any1 listen to 2DAYfm when John Edwards predicted a serious crash on the harbour involving a ferry.Spooky. penguin Yes I listen to 2dayfm each morning and heard John Edwards predict that too, penguin. He was spot on and its quite spooky indeed. mrsswordfisherman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flattieman Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Terrible news. My thoughts go out to the families involved. Flattieman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hustler57 Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 yeah i heard of they accident at 2am in the morning, very sad to hear about it but in all honesty it was only a matter of time before this happened, i feel for both parties, the people that where on the private cruiser , i feel sorry for them , i also feel sorry for the ferry driver, while i dont go out on the harbour much but every time i do go out there, the ferries do go way to fast for that area of water, while im sure this was just one of those freak accidents , i feel for the ferry driver as im sure he didnt turn up to work with the intenson of having a major boat accident, i for one can not begin to feel the way he would be at the moment, having been the skipper of a water craft that was involved in an accident that killed 3 people with a young girl missing, so while i feel for both sides , i do think that something needs to be done to stop future accidents from happening on the water, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arpie Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 What a shocker - following so closely on the heels of the other tragedy in Jan (I think it was.) Condolences to all the families involved. It shouldn't have happened - I cannot believe that a 35ft boat with 12 people on it, in the late evening, had no lights on - is this an attempt to shift the blame? Were they sitting in darkness, chatting? I think not. What is it with River Cats - is there a design fault that they can't see what is in front of them? Do they put it on 'auto' & go downstairs for a cuppa? Or is it pure speed & inattentive? Not good enough. My thoughts only Roberta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caine Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 from what i have seen on the news the ferry left the key and turned west the boat was heading east which puts the ferry on the wrong side of the harbour! can anyone confirm this, what actually happened, i have heard conflicting reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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