Feds launch long investigation into ferry crash

The National Transportation Safety Board will spend as much as a week collecting information surrounding the Staten Island ferry accident that injured 37 passengers Saturday, and a deeper analysis of the crash could take more than a year, officials said Sunday.

“At this point in the investigation we’re not ruling anything out,” said Robert Sumwalt, part of the seven-member board team.

There were no engine alarms before the crash and no previous problems with controlling the speed of the ship, the chief engineer and crew members told investigators. The ship seemed to have been travelling faster than normal, witnesses said.

So far, alcohol tests on the crew have come back negative, and drug tests are still being evaluated. Investigators are reviewing on-board video camera footage and making mechanical inspections.

The Andrew J. Barberi that hit a pier at St. George Ferry Terminal on Saturday was the same ferry involved in a horrific 2003 wreck.
(With AP)

When the Andrew J. Barberi Ferry crashed in 2003
11: Number of passengers killed when it ran into a pier near the ferry terminal. Another 160 were injured.
$67 million: Settlements paid to 162 victims as of earlier this year.
$8 million: Investment in repairs to the ferry and the pier after the crash.