The passenger ferry Carib Tide collided head-on with a big car barge just outside Cruz Bay, St. John, Friday night. There were conflicting reports about how many people were injured.
A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman in San Juan said initial reports indicated three persons were injured, none seriously. But others at the scene said as many as 15 persons were treated at the Myra Keating Clinic on St. John. Two people were reportedly transported via the ferry boat Carib Tyme to St. Thomas and the Roy L. Schneider Hospital. One man on a stretcher at the Cruz Bay ferry dock appeared to be unconscious, one witness said.
The barge Roanoke was reportedly headed out of Cruz Bay when it met the ferry, which was headed into Cruz Bay from St. Thomas. The Coast Guard put the time of the collision at about 7 p.m.
The bow of the ferry boat was seriously damaged from the impact, but the craft was never in danger of sinking, according to the Coast Guard.
"If there had ever been any danger of either vessel sinking we would have been called in," the Coast Guard spokesman said.
The accident is being investigated by Lt. Kevin Smith of the USCG Marine Safety Detachment on St. Thomas. Smith could not be reached late Friday night for further details on the accident.
