‘We knew immediately we had a serious incident’ – NYFD
New York’s Fire Department said they “knew immediately” the ship colliding with the bridge was a serious incident.
Chief of Training Michael Meyers said 277 people were onboard and 27 were removed for treatment in the aftermath of the incident.
He added: “Originally, we had a Brooklyn box out for folks in the water, for a boat in distress. Once the marine units arrived on scene, we knew immediately we had a serious incident with a boat striking the bridge, so we had reports of people in the water.
“Our marine units got out there, picked up Rescue 2 and Rescue 4 and brought them out to the vessel. They started to remove and treat the aided.
“They also brought EMS units out to the vessel to start to treat the more seriously injured people on that vessel. They brought them all here to Pier 16, where we set up a casualty collection point and an EMS staging area to assess the victims and send the most serious to the hospital right away.
“The police, fire and EMS did a tremendous job of working together to get everyone off the ship safely.”