One person died and 12 others were injured when a boat collided with the Clearwater Ferry on Sunday evening, according to the Clearwater Police Department.
All those injured were passengers aboard the ferry. The ferry had 45 people on board, including two crew members, when it was struck by a passing boat, police said.
The Clearwater Fire Department declared the situation a mass casualty incident due to the number of injuries. “All local hospitals have been notified,” Clearwater PD post on X Sunday night. The post also stated, “Multiple trauma alerts have been called with helicopters transporting two of the more seriously injured.”
The crash occurred near the Memorial Causeway Bridge in Clearwater. Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg was alerted around 8:40 p.m., according to the Seventh Coast Guard District.
The boat that hit the ferry fled the scene but was later located by a responding agency, Clearwater police confirmed. After the collision, the ferry drifted onto a sandbar just south of the bridge, where first responders and emergency crews successfully removed all patients and passengers.
“We were just enjoying the ride, and then all of a sudden we hear the first mate yelling, ‘Hey, hey, hey,'” one passenger told Tampa’s ABC affiliate WFTS. “And then we looked back behind us and this big yacht just came through the boat,” said the passenger, who was riding the ferry with his two children and his wife, who is 31 weeks pregnant with their third child.
The Coast Guard reported that six people were aboard the recreational boat that fled the scene. “The boat that fled the scene has been identified by another law enforcement agency,” Clearwater PD said. However, authorities have not released further details about the second vessel.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will lead the investigation into the crash, police said.
