Disaster ferry pilot 'may have fallen asleep'

A Staten Island ferry pilot may have fallen asleep just before his ship slammed into a pier killing 10 people and injuring at least 42 others in New York harbour, police said today.

The pilot, identified by a source as Richard Smith, ran away from the scene so quickly that he left behind his gear and his keys, then broke into his house where he slit his wrists and shot himself with a pellet gun.

A co-worker told authorities that Smith had been asleep, slumped over the controls, a law enforcement source said.

He was being represented by a lawyer, said police, who obtained a sample of his blood for testing.

The ferry’s crew was to be interviewed and tested for drugs and alcohol, said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Smith was in critical condition after surgery at St Vincent’s Hospital, the same place where 22 victims – including at least one amputee – were rushed after the 3.20 p.m. (8.30 Irish time) crash, the city’s worst mass transit accident in at least a generation.

“The scene was total chaos,” said passenger Frank Corchado, 29, of Staten Island, recounting a tableau of horrific sights: a decapitated man, a legless woman, a fellow passenger bleeding from his eyes.

“There was a lady without legs, right in the middle of the boat,” he said. “She was screaming. You ever see anything like that?”

The 300-foot craft was carrying an estimated 1,500 people, 36 of whom were treated at the scene or were immediately taken to hospitals. Six others walked away injured and went to hospitals later.

Corchado said he tried to help as many people as possible get out. Witnesses said some jumped into the wind-swept 62-degree-Fahrenheit (17-degree-Celsius) water and others ran as the pier smashed the side of the boat.

“Most of the people who died were older people, I believe, who couldn’t move or didn’t have enough time to get out of the way,” Corchado said.

The victims were seated in the window seats on the front right side of the Andrew J Barberi ferry.

Some of the injured were pulled from the rubble by rescue workers one of the dead was found in the water off Staten Island.

The cause of the crash officially remained unknown. The National Transportation Safety Board convened an accident investigation team to lead the inquiry. The team was to examine weather, among other factors.

Winds were gusting up to 40 mph when the accident occurred.

“The ferry was coming too fast,” said witness William Gonzalez, who lives in a nearby apartment complex. “They had no control to stop the boat.”

Corchado said it felt as if the ferry accelerated as it approached land, waking him as he napped on the trip home. He ran away from the front of the boat to safety.

At Staten Island University Hospital, two victims with amputations were among those brought in from the ferry, said spokeswoman Arleen Ryback. Others were suffering from back and spinal injuries, one victim reported chest pains and one had hypothermia.

Ferry service was immediately shut down, forcing thousands of rush hour commuters to head for buses and taxis. Service was to resume in time for the Thursday morning rush, said the city’s Department of Transportation, which maintains the fleet of seven vessels.