Woman and infant killed after passenger boat capsizes near Statue of Liberty
A woman and a five-month-old child died after a passenger boat overturned near Liberty Island; the boat operator was arrested and charged.
A small passenger boat with about fifteen people on board capsized near the Statue of Liberty, killing a woman and a five-month-old infant and triggering a large rescue operation, New York authorities said.
After the Saturday night accident in New York Harbor, crews recovered twelve people from the water who were later described as in stable condition. Divers subsequently located a 27-year-old woman and a five-month-old girl; both were taken to a nearby hospital and later pronounced dead.
Operator arrested; investigation ongoing
The operator of the vessel, identified in U.S. media as 46-year-old Manuel Hernandez of Manhattan, was arrested and faces 13 counts of reckless endangerment. Investigators with the U.S. Coast Guard are also probing whether the boat was being used illegally to carry passengers.
The incident drew a multi-agency response. "We spotted the overturned boat and helped pull 11 people from the water," said Adam Schwartz, founder of the tour operator See the City. The U.S. Coast Guard reported that two of its boats joined four fire department boats, two police boats and a police helicopter in the rescue effort.
Local outlets named the victims as Sarah Sanchez and her daughter Antonella Garcia. A post on the restaurant Il Punto Ristorante's Instagram said the two were the wife and child of one of its employees, Andres Garcia, who was aboard the vessel when it flipped: "What should have been a joyful family outing ended in an unimaginable tragedy," the restaurant wrote.
Authorities have not officially released all passenger names or a final cause for the capsizing. The investigation into the circumstances of the accident continues.
Photo: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons
