One Dead and Two Missing After Tugboat Hits Barge Near NY Tappan Zee Bridge

One Dead and Two Missing After Tugboat Hits Barge Near NY Tappan Zee Bridge
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/nyregion/one-dead-and-two-missing-afte...
By ASHLEY SOUTHALL
MARCH 12, 2016
Photo

Rescuers searching the Hudson River near the Tappan Zee Bridge for two people who were missing after a tugboat hit a barge on Saturday. CreditGregg Vigliotti for The New York Times

A tugboat with three crew members aboard struck a construction barge moored beneath the Tappan Zee Bridge and sank into the Hudson River before dawn on Saturday, killing one crew member and leaving the other two missing, officials said.

The crew of a boat named the Specialist tried to move away from the stationary barge after realizing they were approaching too close to it, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said at a news conference on Saturday afternoon on the Rockland County side of the bridge. But the boat crashed into the corner of the barge and quickly sank.

“It’s a tragic accident,” Mr. Cuomo said. “We’re hoping for a miracle, but if we don’t have a miracle, three lives would have been lost.”

One of the missing crew members was a 29-year-old man whose family met with Mr. Cuomo on Saturday. The man had been set to return home but agreed to work a few extra days on the boat, the governor said.

Investigators were still trying to figure out what led to the crash that killed his crew mate, Paul Amon, 62, of Bayville, N.J. Mr. Amon was pulled from the river and pronounced dead, which occurred around 5:18 a.m., said Rob Astorino, the Westchester County executive, at a news conference after the governor’s appearance.

James E. Mercante, the maritime lawyer for the owner of the Specialist, said Mr. Amon was the ship’s captain, and had been at the wheel steering the tugboat next to the barge. The mate and the deckhand were still missing. Mr. Mercante said the authorities were trying to locate the deckhand’s mother to notify her that he was missing.

“It was a horrific accident,” Mr. Mercante said. “It was a crew of experienced mariners and loyal employees, and the owner is sorrowful about this tragedy.”

As Mr. Astorino spoke on Saturday, divers, who had been unable to enter the river because of strong currents, were preparing to begin underwater searches of the vessel and for the missing crew. They were part of a search-and-rescue effort involving dozens of agencies from New York State, New York City, and Rockland and Westchester Counties, as well as the United States Coast Guard.

As day turned into night without a sign of the men, officials signaled they were prepared for the worst, but holding out hope for a positive outcome. The Coast Guard said Saturday night that it had suspended the search at sunset “pending further developments.”

“The dive teams are going to look around the entire sunken vessel and do whatever is necessary to find and recover bodies, if they are there,” Mr. Astorino said.

Petty Officer Sabrina Laberdesque, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard’s New York sector, said the search had not switched from a rescue mission to a recovery effort.

The Specialist was one of three tugboats that left the Albany area on Friday night escorting a barge carrying a tower crane down the Hudson River to a terminal in Jersey City, Mr. Astorino said at a news conference. The Specialist was on the starboard, or right, side of the moving barge.

As it passed under the central span of the bridge, the tugboat slammed into the stationary barge, according to Mr. Astorino. That barge was also loaded with a tower crane that was working on a replacement bridge being erected adjacent to the older span, he said.

After the collision, the Specialist took on water and sank within minutes, falling 40 feet to the bottom of the river, Mr. Astorino said. The Coast Guard said it was notified that the vessel had sunk at 5:20 a.m.

The crews on the other tugboats, the Trevor to the left of the moving barge and the Realist to the rear of it, tried to help the Specialist’s crew members but were unable to reach them, he said.

The United States Coast Guard and the Westchester County police were investigating the collision. Mr. Astorino said investigators were exploring factors including speed, visibility and the crew’s familiarity with the area of the river near the bridge.

George N. Longworth, the Westchester County public safety commissioner, said investigators had not determined how fast the Specialist was moving, and were still interviewing witnesses.

Still underwater on Saturday night, the Specialist was leaking some of its 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the river, officials said. A private contractor lowered booms into the river to collect the oil and was working with the State Environmental Conservation Department to clean and contain the spill, according to Mr. Cuomo.

For most of the day, the search for the missing mariners was limited to the boats and aviation units scanning the surface of the water. Divers used sonar equipment to figure out if the position of the boat made it safe to approach.

The Specialist, an 84-foot steel-hulled vessel, was built in 1954, according to documents on file with the Coast Guard. Mr. Mercante said that in addition to the search and cleanup, the company was also trying to figure out how to raise the Specialist, which was partially lodged under the stationary barge.

Thirteen workers were aboard the stationary barge at the time of the accident, and they were not injured, Mr. Cuomo said. The barge was illuminated, he said, and officials believed that the light had allowed those workers to see the tugboat — which appeared to be coming too close — and move to safety.

The company that owns the stationary barge, Tappan Zee Constructors, said it was aware of the accident and was cooperating with investigators.

The Tappan Zee Bridge is about 20 miles north of the Bronx and connects two counties: Rockland to the west, and Westchester to the east. Construction on a replacement bridge began in 2013, with a budget of $3.9 billion and an expected completion date in 2018.

In 2013, a woman and her fiancé’s best man were killed near the building site, when a boat they were aboard struck a Tappan Zee construction barge. The boat’s driver had been drunk, prosecutors said, and after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter as part of a plea agreement, he was sentenced to two years in prison in 2014.

The victims’ families filed lawsuits against several companies involved with the bridge project, saying that poor lighting at the site had been a factor in the crash. The status of those suits could not be determined on Saturday.

Correction: March 13, 2016
Because of information provided by the authorities, an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the age of Paul Amon, one of the crew members who was killed. Mr. Amon was 62, not 52.