Florida state and Coast Guard officials continue to investigate a collision between a small passenger ferry and recreational boat that left one passenger dead and 10 injured at Clearwater, Fla.
The Clearwater Ferry vessel Maddie's Crossing was carrying 45 passengers from Clearwater Beach back to Clearwater April 27. Around 8:43 p.m. the catamaran ferry was struck from behind by a 37’ center console recreational boat that ramped up over the top of the ferry and its canopy top, according to Clearwater city police and state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers.
In a media briefing the next day, Clearwater Police Chief Eric Gandy said emergency services dispatchers heard “horrific screaming in the background" as people called for help after the collision. The captain of a local excursion boat, the 67’ Pirate’s Ransom, made a VHF radio call recorded by the Coast Guard after the impact and responded to the scene.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday. There’s been a boat collision. The Clearwater Ferry underneath the Clearwater Memorial Causeway. The Clearwater Ferry is adrift.”
José Castro, 41, of Palm Harbor died in the crash. Gandy said police and fire rescue responders treated it as “a mass casualty” situation based on the volume of 911 calls. Of the 10 injured passengers, six were transported as trauma patients to hospitals.
“It was a little challenging” to triage and transport the ferry passengers, with some rescued from shallow water or picked up by good Samaritan boaters and delivered to shore, said Clearwater emergency medical services chief Tony Tedesco.
The recreational boat struck the ferry from behind, as seen on a video released by Clearwater city officials. Other images showed the vessel’s overhead canopy shredded.
“It looks to me it overrode nearly three-quarters of the ferry,” said Gandy.
The boat operator, Jeff Knight, 62, of St. Petersburg, stayed at the scene with five passengers on his vessel for about 10 minutes, according to a timeline quoted by Clearwater officials. Realizing his boat was taking on water, and with an 8-week old infant among his guests on board, Knight then headed to the Bellaire boat ramp about 3.5 miles away, according to his lawyer J. Kevin Hayslett.
In a letter to state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigators also released to local news media, Hayslett said Knight after the collision told one of his passengers to call 911, and maintained the telephone contact with dispatchers for 12 minutes while he tied up alongside the ferry to stabilize it.
Knight offered to take some passengers to a hospital, but the ferry captain declined, Hayslett wrote. When Knight determined his boat was taking on water he made the decision to get the boat to dock.
“Only after Clearwater Police officers were in the water and ambulances had arrived did Mr. Knight leave in order to prevent his boat fromsinking with an infant on board,” Hayslett wrote. “At every point he acted lawfully and responsibly, exercising sound judgement under high-stress conditions.”
Gandy and state officers said Knight was cooperative when they met him at the dock, and submitted to a breathalyzer test that showed no alcohol.
Hayslett in his letter told FWC investigators there are questions as to whether the ferry was adequately lit. The lawyer also requested GPS and navigation data from both impounded vessels, AIS tracking data for all nearby vessels, and recorded 911 calls.
Operated by the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Agency, the Clearwater Ferry was transporting passengers during on a weekend of community events including the last day of the Sugar Sand Festival, a sand-sculpting festival in Clearwater Beach.
