MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-10-02 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Problems in our favorite resort
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21 die as wake capsizes US tour boat on lake outing
David Teather New York
Monday October 3, 2005
The Guardian
Up to 21 people were killed last night after a tour boat carrying 49
mainly senior citizens capsized on a lake in upstate New York. The 40ft
vessel, the Ethan Allen, overturned on Lake George, a popular tourist
resort in the Adirondack mountains, about 50 miles north of the state
capital, Albany.
Warren County sheriff Larry Cleveland said the accident appeared to have
happened when the wake of a second larger boat, believed to be an old
100ft tourist vessel, swamped the glass-enclosed Ethan Allen. "We
believe that the wake upset the boat and threw the passengers into the
water," he said.
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The weather had been clear and calm when the boat overturned at around
3pm local time and was ruled out as a contributing factor.
Witnesses on the shore, quoted by CNN, said the accident had occurred as
the boat turned to shore and listed to one side, causing some of the
passengers to fall into the water. The boat was said to have capsized
and "bobbed like a cork" in the water for about 10 minutes. Some of the
passengers had apparently managed to clamber on to its hull before it
sank.
Reporters at the scene said they had seen bodies being dragged out of
the lake and left on the shore. There were chaotic scenes as police,
fire departments and ambulance workers helped survivors. A temporary
morgue was set up at a nearby campsite.
Andrea Sause, a witness who said she had assisted the rescue efforts,
told CNN that most of the passengers had been elderly. "We got most of
them out of the boat, but I saw like 20 people that were on the grass
that were covered and they were dead," she said. Her father, Frank
Sause, said the survivors were "all pretty shook up". Mr Sause said he
had seen between 20 and 40 boats on the lake helping to rescue the
victims, carrying them to ambulances on stretchers. "One guy looked over
his shoulder and said 'That's my wife, she's dead'," he said.
He told CNN he had seen the captain of the boat in one of the rescue
vessels and that he seemed to be in shock, refusing to step on to the
shore.
All the 49 passengers on board had been accounted for within two hours,
the sheriff told the local paper, the Glens Falls Post Star, and efforts
were turning from rescue to recovery. The passengers were believed to
have been a group of elderly tourists from Canada and Michigan.
Shoreline Cruises, which operates the boat, had no immediate comment.
The company owns a handful of boats offering tours on the lake.
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