Cars smashed, boat crumpled as Washington ferry rams dock

(Photos by Erika Schultz / Seattle Situations by means of AP)

SEATTLE — Authorities say an vehicle and passenger ferry crashed into a dock Thursday in Seattle, harmful the vessel.

Washington Condition Ferries tweeted that no injuries have been noted but passengers mentioned some autos were being damaged. The condition agency stated the Cathlamet ferry, which was touring from Vashon Island to a dock in the West Seattle neighborhood, sustained “significant destruction.”

The Seattle Times stories the left top element of the vessel was crumpled. The boat was docked and by 9 a.m., the previous autos experienced been introduced off the boat.

No information about how the crash transpired has been unveiled.

West Seattle resident Jack Walsh explained he listened to the crash all-around 8 a.m., describing it as a “combination of a modest explosion and screeching” that lasted about five seconds.

Anne Gfeller Higuera was on the ferry. Her motor vehicle was parked on the higher deck. As the ferry pulled into the Fauntleroy dock, she did not detect nearly anything out of the normal. But then she instructed the newspaper she read an “enormous noise” in entrance of her that stored receiving worse.

“There was a large amount of concrete dust,” she reported. When she looked up, she observed the side of the boat experienced been crushed and quite a few cars and trucks in entrance of her ended up severely destroyed.

Vashon resident Oskar Weiss, 17, advised the Situations he was commuting when “out of nowhere there was just a huge boom.” His explained his automobile felt like it slid on the auto deck. “I considered that we had been likely to go on the shore simply because it appeared like we weren’t slowing down.”

U.S. Coastline Guard Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier said officers from the Puget Seem sector deployed to the scene shortly just after they had been notified of the crash about 8:20 a.m. They have begun investigating the trigger and no matter if it was mechanical or human error.

Washington State Ferries runs auto and passenger ferry provider in the Puget Seem and San Juan Islands.

The vessel involved in the crash, the Cathlamet, is 328 ft prolonged and can have up to 124 vehicles and 1,200 passengers.