Ferry hits boat in Sydney harbour

Ferry hits boat in Sydney harbour


Sydney - A passenger ferry ploughed into a pleasure boat under Sydney's iconic Harbour Bridge, killing at least three people, including two professional figure skating judges, and injuring eight others, officials said on Thursday.

The ferry shattered the 10-metre-long wooden cruiser and pitched its passengers into the water in the collision, which occurred about 22:45 on Wednesday, witnesses and police said.

Most of the 12 passengers on board the smaller boat were members of Australia's ice skating community, in Sydney to participate in a weeklong seminar by US figure skating coach, Kathy Casey.

Australian figure skating judges Alan Blinn and Simone Moore, both of whom worked at international events, were killed, according to Michael Pasfield, vice-president of the Australian Professional Skating Association. The identity of a third victim was not immediately released.

Police divers were also searching for 14-year-old Queensland state skater Morgan Innes, who was thrown from the pleasure cruiser and is feared dead, Pasfield and police said.

Former Australian Olympic figure skater Liz Cain, who competed for Australia at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, had a leg partially amputated in the accident. Seven other people were also injured, skating officials and police said.

Boat 'just disintegrated'

"The boat basically just disintegrated," said witness Clive Marshall, who was on another ferry passing nearby. "There were a couple of people hanging onto the wreckage. We had people in the water and bits of boat and the boat sinking and people screaming for their missing friends."

Ferry crew leaped into the water to help the victims, and a police rescue helicopter used a spotlight to help locate the injured.

The ferry was returning to its berth at the time of the crash.

Dozens of ferries and hundreds of other boats ply Sydney harbour every day, including navy vessels, cruise liners and container ships, and collisions occur periodically, occasionally causing deaths.

The deadliest crash was in 1927, when a mail steamer collided with a ferry, sinking the ferry and killing 40 people.