No fewer than one person was killed and several others injured after a ferry carrying 45 passengers in Clearwater, Florida, was struck by a boat, which then fled the scene.
The Clearwater Fire Department declared the crash on Sunday evening a mass casualty incident owing to the number of people injured.
The City of Clearwater said in a post on X that police and fire services were at the scene, and six patients were declared trauma alerts, with two seriously wounded individuals being airlifted to hospitals.
It added that the boat, which fled the scene near the city's Memorial Causeway Bridge, had been identified by another law enforcement agency, and an investigation was underway.
“All of the injuries are from the ferry. The boat that struck the ferry fled the scene. The ferry came to rest on a sandbar just south of the Memorial Causeway Bridge. All patients and passengers have been removed,” police said.
The accident reportedly occurred at the conclusion of the 17-day Sugar Sand Festival on Sunday night, with many people taking the ferry to and from the festival.
