Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Staten Island Ferry Tragedy

Aired October 16, 2003 - 07:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now back to that disaster in the Staten Island ferry. Investigators want to know why the commuter boat slammed into a concrete pier yesterday, the wrong pier by the way, killing at least 10 on board. The destruction inside reveals the horror, and, boy, there was a lot of damage inside. The crash ripped a gaping hole along the side of the 300-foot vessel, which was carrying about 1,000 passengers.
Michael Okwu is back on the scene this morning for more for us.

Michael -- good morning.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good morning to you.

You can see just over my shoulder one of the famed Staten Island ferries making its trip. That 25-minute, 5-mile ride between lower Manhattan and Staten Island is usually carefree and uneventful. Not so yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OKWU (voice-over): On a windy afternoon, the 300-foot ferry slammed into the dock on Staten Island. The bright orange vessel, gashed by the steel and concrete pier. An estimated 1,500 passengers were on board.

Some heard the crashing sound.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then the whole boat just started shaking, and we didn't know what the hell was going on. Then, someone was, like, "We crashed, we crashed." And we didn't know if the boat was going to sink.

OKWU: The people who died were seated near the windows on the middle deck on the side of the ship that was hit. Some survivors dove into the cold waters of New York Bay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People didn't know what had happened. Some of the women were crying, guys were crying, everyone was putting on life jackets.

OKWU: Crew members were interviewed and tested for drugs and alcohol, a routine procedure.

Police went to the captain's home, where law enforcement sources say he had slit his wrists and shot himself with a pellet gun. He was taken to the same trauma center, where two-thirds of the injured passengers received medical attention.

The cause of the accident is so far undetermined, but winds gusting over 40 miles an hour may have had something to do with it.

The city's mayor said there was no evidence of foul play.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: There's no indication that this is anything other than a tragic accident.

OKWU: A team from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived last night, and are now in charge of the investigation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

The very big question, of course, is: What happened? Was this human error? Was it the weather? The NTSB is going to be meeting this morning, and they'll be looking into it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELLEN ENGLEMAN, NTSB CHAIRPRSON: There are a lot of conflicting stories about what happened on the bridge yesterday. Obviously, there was a tragic accident that occurred, and we want to find out exactly what happened. We'll do that through a series of witness testimony. We'll begin our witness interviews today as well. We're working closely with the Coast Guard, with the borough of Staten Island, with the Department of Transportation and the mayor's office, and we want to thank them for their excellent cooperation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OKWU: Now, details about the dead are beginning to come in. According to the New York City Police Department, there is one woman who has died and nine men, aged 25 to 52 -- Bill.

HEMMER: Michael Okwu, thanks, near the ferry there.

Earlier today, I talked with Kenny Bucchieri. He was on board, a passenger when the accident occurred. I asked him when he realized something was going terribly wrong on board.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KENNY BUCCHIERI, FERRY PASSENGER: I was on the upper level of the boat towards the rear, and as the boat came into where it was supposed to come into the slip, but it was 600 feet towards the Verrazano Bridge, and it crashed into the concrete pier. And as it crashed, we could hear, like, banging, like I guess it was all of the windows on the lower level all smashing. And people started running towards the back of the boat and grabbing life preservers and yelling, you know, "What did we hit, what did we hit?" And then, everyone was running from one side of the boat to the other looking out the windows to see what was going on.

And on the upper level, we really couldn't tell what was happening on the lower level. None of the deck hands were letting us go down to see. You know, obviously, everyone was curious to see what was going on. It looked like the pier was lower than the lower level floor, so we didn't think that anyone really got hurt.

So, everyone was just angry that, you know, now we were going to take a little extra time to get home, not realizing the destruction that was done, that people were killed and hurt so badly.

After a little while, the deck hands were trying to move people towards the rear of the boat, and we -- some people, you know, they complied. They started walking back. But as soon as the deck hands turned around, people were starting to walk back towards the front because they wanted to look and see what was going on.

HEMMER: Now back up one second, Kenny.

BUCCHIERI: A tugboat...

HEMMER: When did you know that something was wrong?

BUCCHIERI: Well, when -- normally when the boat pulls into the slip, it hits the pilings, it rubs against them and you can hear them. The boat jostles a little bit. It's no big deal. But when this thing hit the concrete pier, you knew something was wrong because it was a loud bang, a crashing sound, a scraping sound, and people started running. Basically, when people start running, you know something's wrong.

HEMMER: Yes, was there any warning at all as you went into that part of the pier?

BUCCHIERI: Well, I really wasn't looking out the window or anything. I was just reading. I'm sure some people who were towards the front of the boat at the bow, they were looking out and I'm sure they saw the pier coming up fast on them. You know, it was very windy, and a lot of people like to go outside. It wasn't really cold, so people were outside. And I imagine that people that were towards the front saw that the boat missed the slip by 600 feet and started going towards this concrete pier sideways.

HEMMER: Kenny, how often do you ride that ferry?

BUCCHIERI: I'm on there five days a week.

HEMMER: Five days a week.

BUCCHIERI: Yes.

HEMMER: So, you know this route pretty well, right?

BUCCHIERI: Right.

HEMMER: And yesterday, with the winds coming, with the speed of the ferry, at what point did you realize, other than the sound and the sight that you saw below, that this was not a regular commute for you on the ferry? BUCCHIERI: Well, when the boat hit the pier and I looked up and could I see how fast the boat was still going, that's when I knew, because usually they make announcement on the boat saying that we're going to be entering slip number whatever, and the boat starts to slow down. But that didn't happen. But I really wasn't paying attention to that because I was reading.

HEMMER: Kenny Bucchieri is a witness, a passenger on board that ferry yesterday. Will you ride it again today, Kenny?

BUCCHIERI: Of course. I'm a New Yorker.

HEMMER: No problem? No worries? No concerns?

BUCCHIERI: No problem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Kenny Bucchieri from a few moments ago.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired October 16, 2003 - 07:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now back to that disaster in the Staten Island ferry. Investigators want to know why the commuter boat slammed into a concrete pier yesterday, the wrong pier by the way, killing at least 10 on board. The destruction inside reveals the horror, and, boy, there was a lot of damage inside. The crash ripped a gaping hole along the side of the 300-foot vessel, which was carrying about 1,000 passengers.
Michael Okwu is back on the scene this morning for more for us.

Michael -- good morning.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good morning to you.

You can see just over my shoulder one of the famed Staten Island ferries making its trip. That 25-minute, 5-mile ride between lower Manhattan and Staten Island is usually carefree and uneventful. Not so yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OKWU (voice-over): On a windy afternoon, the 300-foot ferry slammed into the dock on Staten Island. The bright orange vessel, gashed by the steel and concrete pier. An estimated 1,500 passengers were on board.

Some heard the crashing sound.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then the whole boat just started shaking, and we didn't know what the hell was going on. Then, someone was, like, "We crashed, we crashed." And we didn't know if the boat was going to sink.

OKWU: The people who died were seated near the windows on the middle deck on the side of the ship that was hit. Some survivors dove into the cold waters of New York Bay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People didn't know what had happened. Some of the women were crying, guys were crying, everyone was putting on life jackets.

OKWU: Crew members were interviewed and tested for drugs and alcohol, a routine procedure.

Police went to the captain's home, where law enforcement sources say he had slit his wrists and shot himself with a pellet gun. He was taken to the same trauma center, where two-thirds of the injured passengers received medical attention.

The cause of the accident is so far undetermined, but winds gusting over 40 miles an hour may have had something to do with it.

The city's mayor said there was no evidence of foul play.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: There's no indication that this is anything other than a tragic accident.

OKWU: A team from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived last night, and are now in charge of the investigation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

The very big question, of course, is: What happened? Was this human error? Was it the weather? The NTSB is going to be meeting this morning, and they'll be looking into it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELLEN ENGLEMAN, NTSB CHAIRPRSON: There are a lot of conflicting stories about what happened on the bridge yesterday. Obviously, there was a tragic accident that occurred, and we want to find out exactly what happened. We'll do that through a series of witness testimony. We'll begin our witness interviews today as well. We're working closely with the Coast Guard, with the borough of Staten Island, with the Department of Transportation and the mayor's office, and we want to thank them for their excellent cooperation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OKWU: Now, details about the dead are beginning to come in. According to the New York City Police Department, there is one woman who has died and nine men, aged 25 to 52 -- Bill.

HEMMER: Michael Okwu, thanks, near the ferry there.

Earlier today, I talked with Kenny Bucchieri. He was on board, a passenger when the accident occurred. I asked him when he realized something was going terribly wrong on board.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KENNY BUCCHIERI, FERRY PASSENGER: I was on the upper level of the boat towards the rear, and as the boat came into where it was supposed to come into the slip, but it was 600 feet towards the Verrazano Bridge, and it crashed into the concrete pier. And as it crashed, we could hear, like, banging, like I guess it was all of the windows on the lower level all smashing. And people started running towards the back of the boat and grabbing life preservers and yelling, you know, "What did we hit, what did we hit?" And then, everyone was running from one side of the boat to the other looking out the windows to see what was going on.

And on the upper level, we really couldn't tell what was happening on the lower level. None of the deck hands were letting us go down to see. You know, obviously, everyone was curious to see what was going on. It looked like the pier was lower than the lower level floor, so we didn't think that anyone really got hurt.

So, everyone was just angry that, you know, now we were going to take a little extra time to get home, not realizing the destruction that was done, that people were killed and hurt so badly.

After a little while, the deck hands were trying to move people towards the rear of the boat, and we -- some people, you know, they complied. They started walking back. But as soon as the deck hands turned around, people were starting to walk back towards the front because they wanted to look and see what was going on.

HEMMER: Now back up one second, Kenny.

BUCCHIERI: A tugboat...

HEMMER: When did you know that something was wrong?

BUCCHIERI: Well, when -- normally when the boat pulls into the slip, it hits the pilings, it rubs against them and you can hear them. The boat jostles a little bit. It's no big deal. But when this thing hit the concrete pier, you knew something was wrong because it was a loud bang, a crashing sound, a scraping sound, and people started running. Basically, when people start running, you know something's wrong.

HEMMER: Yes, was there any warning at all as you went into that part of the pier?

BUCCHIERI: Well, I really wasn't looking out the window or anything. I was just reading. I'm sure some people who were towards the front of the boat at the bow, they were looking out and I'm sure they saw the pier coming up fast on them. You know, it was very windy, and a lot of people like to go outside. It wasn't really cold, so people were outside. And I imagine that people that were towards the front saw that the boat missed the slip by 600 feet and started going towards this concrete pier sideways.

HEMMER: Kenny, how often do you ride that ferry?

BUCCHIERI: I'm on there five days a week.

HEMMER: Five days a week.

BUCCHIERI: Yes.

HEMMER: So, you know this route pretty well, right?

BUCCHIERI: Right.

HEMMER: And yesterday, with the winds coming, with the speed of the ferry, at what point did you realize, other than the sound and the sight that you saw below, that this was not a regular commute for you on the ferry? BUCCHIERI: Well, when the boat hit the pier and I looked up and could I see how fast the boat was still going, that's when I knew, because usually they make announcement on the boat saying that we're going to be entering slip number whatever, and the boat starts to slow down. But that didn't happen. But I really wasn't paying attention to that because I was reading.

HEMMER: Kenny Bucchieri is a witness, a passenger on board that ferry yesterday. Will you ride it again today, Kenny?

BUCCHIERI: Of course. I'm a New Yorker.

HEMMER: No problem? No worries? No concerns?

BUCCHIERI: No problem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Kenny Bucchieri from a few moments ago.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.