One person was killed and several others were injured on Sunday when a boat collided with a ferry near the Memorial Causeway Bridge and then fled the scene, officials said. The Clearwater Police Department announced on X that multiple people were injured.
The Clearwater Fire & Rescue Department quickly declared the crash as "a mass casualty incident" due of the high number of injuries, as rescue workers were seen working through the night to pull people ashore. The Clearwater Ferry was carrying festival attendees to and from the closing night of the 17-day Sugar Sand Festival when it was hit by a private boat with six people on board.
Tragedy Could Have Been Bigger
Everyone who was injured had been on the ferry, which was carrying 43 passengers and two crew members. The boat fled the scene immediately after hitting the ferry, while the ferry was forced to stop on a sandbar near the Memorial Causeway Bridge.
Dramatic photos reveal the extent of the damage to the small ferry, showing sections of the roof completely torn off and plastic chairs crushed from the force of the crash.
Other photos show passengers being taken to safety onshore, with brave first responders standing on the sandbar as they evaluated the situation.
In total, six passengers were classified as "trauma patients" and transported to various hospitals across the state. Two of them had to be airlifted by medical helicopters that arrived to help at the scene.
The rest of the passengers were treated by crews from 10 ambulances and emergency vehicles that responded to the initial call, racing to the scene with sirens wailing and lights flashing as information about the disaster slowly emerged.
Night of Chaos
Late Sunday night, the Clearwater Police Department released a statement advising drivers to steer clear of Memorial Causeway as emergency teams transported patients to different hospitals.
"We're working a boat crash off the Memorial Causeway bridge that has resulted in multiple injuries," police said in the statement.
"It's been declared a mass casualty incident by the fire department due to the number of injuries. All local hospitals have been notified. Multiple trauma alerts have been called, with helicopters transporting two of the more seriously injured".
Police also revealed that the boat that hit the ferry and fled the scene was later located with six people on board, none of whom were injured in the incident.
"We believe that the boat responsible for hitting the ferry left the scene immediately, and we believe that our law enforcement partners may have that boat," Clearwater Police spokesperson Rob Shaw said.
Police said that by around 10:30 p.m., emergency crews had evacuated all passengers and patients from the ferry and confirmed that everyone was accounted for.
The investigation into the crash will be led by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
