Crew on capsized tug saved at Liberty Island

A ferry captain who helped in the 2009 "Miracle on the Hudson" rescue plucked three people from New York Harbor after their tugboat tipped over Friday morning, officials said.

The tugboat had been preparing to carry a 60-ton crane away from Liberty Island when it tipped, officials said.

The two crew members, who were not immediately identified, were taken to Jersey City Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries, according to a statement from the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, a branch of the National Park Service.

A Park Police officer also was aboard the tug, an inland waterways-style square-bowed tow boat, but did not fall into the water, Park Police spokesman Lt. David Buckley said.

The officer and the two crew members were rescued by a New York Waterways sightseeing boat whose captain, Mohamed Gouda, helped rescue 143 people from USAirways Flight 1549.

That flight had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport on Jan. 15, 2009, when it struck a flock of geese, disabling the engines.

Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III safely glided into a water landing. All passengers and crew members were rescued.

Gouda, 33, of Jersey City, told Newsday he was passing the Statue of Liberty when he saw the tug start to list. "The boat listed very, very quickly," he said.

He said he moved his ferry, which was New Jersey-bound and not carrying passengers, toward the listing tug -- and got the three men aboard.

He described the tugboat captain as being shaken, but said the deckhand and police officer were in good spirits.

A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, Charles Rowe of Sector New York, identified the tug involved as the Katherine G.

In a statement to Newsday, Buckley said that the tug was departing the work dock at Liberty Island when "an apparent shift in weight during the previous unloading" caused it to tip over at 9:46 a.m.

A photo from the scene shows a crane attached to the tug, leading to initial fears that a crane collapse caused the accident. Officials said initial indications are that was not the case.

The crane, used in recent work on the base and pedestal of the statue, was completely submerged, officials said.

He added that, as per procedure, the Coast Guard has notified the New York and New Jersey departments of Environmental Protection and Environmental Conservation.

Also contacted was the National Response Center, which investigates potential water pollution accidents in the United States.

Rowe said initial indications are that the capsized vessel did not leak fuel or contaminants into New York Harbor.

Rowe also said that the National Transportation Safety Board and Occupational Safety and Health Administration likely would not be involved in any investigation.

The owner and operator of the vessel was not immediately clear. Some reports identified the vessel as the Catherine G -- not Katherine G.

A witness to the rescue, a tourist from Mallorca, Spain, who identified himself as Miguel Faol, said he was aboard a harbor cruise boat with his wife and three sons when the accident happened.

"I didn't hear anything," he said, "but saw a police helicopter and some police boats.

"They were OK," he said of the crew being rescued.

The Coast Guard said the tug was operating as a lone vessel -- not towing or guiding another ship -- when the accident occurred. The Coast Guard said it did not receive a distress or mayday call from the crew.

The Park Police operate Liberty Island.

Visitor operations to Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty were temporarily suspended but resumed not long after the rescue.

With Maria Alvarez,

Igor Kossov and AP