Probe under way in deadly ferry crash

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Sources: Pilot afterward tried to commit suicide at home
Thursday, October 16, 2003 Posted: 11:31 AM EDT (1531 GMT)



A tarp covers the damaged ferry, docked Thursday in Staten Island.

CONFIRMED FATALITIES
Darves M. Marshall, 25
Pio Canina, 52
Louis Robinson, 50
Guierllermo Pagway, 44
Joseph Bagarozza, 30
John T. Healy, 44
Frank Sullivan, 46
Vincent Ferrante, 26
John Valinski, 40
Source: New York Police Department

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A day after a Staten Island ferry slammed into a concrete pier killing 10 people and injuring 42, investigators began to search for causes Thursday.

National Transportation Safety Board members said they will begin questioning witnesses and crew of the ferry, which crashed into the pier amid high winds Wednesday afternoon.

Immediately after the crash, the ferry's pilot ran from the boat, went home and tried to commit suicide by slitting his wrists and shooting himself with a pellet or BB gun, law enforcement sources said. A neighbor said the man was taken in a stretcher from his home and driven away in an ambulance.

He remained in critical condition early Thursday, a hospital spokesman said.

Regular ferry service resumed Thursday morning, while the crippled boat remained at the dock. It sustained significant damage, said NTSB Chairman Ellen Engleman, and will be moved as soon as the vessel is considered secure.

"We are looking to find the probable cause of this tragedy," Engleman said. "There are a lot of conflicting stories about what happened on the bridge yesterday."

The accident happened at 3:21 p.m. EDT, before rush hour, as the 310-foot-long ferry was about to dock at Staten Island.

The ferry struck a concrete pier surrounded by wooden pilings, which gashed the vessel's port side. As the ferry moved ahead, the pier continued ripping the steel and windows of the ferry's main deck, all the way to the rear of the ship.