Woman and child identified who died on the Hudson River boating accident
Two Colombians were killed and 11 people were hurt when their boat sank off the West Side of Manhattan on Tuesday.
The two victims, Julian Vasquez, 7, and Lindelia Vasquez, 47, were among a group of relatives that boarded the jet boat Stimulus Money in Elizabeth, New Jersey on Tuesday afternoon for a cruise on the Hudson River.
At least six women and three men, all members of the same Colombian family, were among the eleven injured.
They are all adults, however their ages span from 19 to 53.
The boat’s licenced 24-year-old skipper from Elizabeth, who was also injured, lives in the area.
Four people on the boat were injured, but their injuries were not considered to be life threatening and they were brought to Mount Sinai West.
The victims were part of a bigger group that was staying at a hotel in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams remarked, “This is a devastating moment for them and those who are part of the families that were there and as new Yorkers our heart goes out,”
Possibly caught in the wake of another boat, the 27-foot Yamaha capsized at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum.
The boat’s owner was riding a jet ski behind the vessel.
Just after 2:45 p.m. on Monday, the Fire Department of New York sent marine and land units to the Hudson River at West 46th Street and Pier 84 in Midtown Manhattan.
The youngster, 7, and the wife, 47, are said to have drowned when they were stuck under the boat.
Firefighter Ryan Warnock of the FDNY stated, “Obviously anytime it’s a child, it changes maybe your emotional state, but you just do what you have to do, and you train for this that’s what we’re here to do,”
Warnock located the young boy, but by the time he and the woman who had also been trapped were at the hospital, it was too late for them.
When a boat accident occurred, the outcome could have been much worse if not for the quick response of a New York ferry service that happened to be passing by at the time.
The New York Waterway Ferry operator announced in a statement that two of their vessels had responded. Nine passengers were saved by its crews when their boat capsized.
An employee with the New York Waterway Ferry said, “We kicked in and did what we had to do, we put on our life jackets, flipped the boat and flipped the adjacent cradle down and started pulling the passengers out,”
Someone on one of the ferries observed what happened.
“We went on the boat ferry, and we saw a boat capsized, everyone on the boat and they were screaming – so the ferry stopped, and they threw out life vest and then we pulled them up one by one,” Marsow recalled.
Some of the ferry’s crew members had previously saved passengers from the doomed U.S. Airways Flight 1549, better known as the “Miracle on the Hudson,” which had crash landed in the Hudson River more than a decade earlier.
Monday night, divers pulled the boat out of the Hudson River.
The total number and weight of passengers is a key piece of information for investigators.
What went wrong, they claim, cannot be determined at this time.
Wakes and waves might come from all directions due to the current and wind, NYPD Harbor Inspector Anthony Russo said. The Hudson River is notoriously risky for any kind of business.
