San Francisco ferry slams into pier injuring 9

By Elizabeth Boyarsky and Angela Hokanson
Bay City News Service

May 7, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - A Baylink ferry boat bound for Vallejo experienced a mechanical failure while backing out of San Francisco's Pier 41 yesterday afternoon, crashing into the Pier 43 Ferry Arch and Pier 43, according to San Francisco fire Division Chief Jim Barden.

Nine people were brought to the hospital with minor injuries, Barden said.

The boat was carrying 142 passengers, according to U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue controller Joseph Ford.

The Fire Department was alerted to the incident at 4:22 p.m. yesterday.

According to Barden, the boat's captain lost control of the vessel during the mechanical failure, and the boat hit the ferry arch and then sideswiped Pier 43.

"All of a sudden we heard the captain yell, 'Hang on! Hang on!' and then we heard a big crash. I saw a woman flip over her seat," said Amy Dent, a 13-year-old from Vallejo who was on the boat.

Karen Francis, who is Dent's teacher at a Vallejo middle school and who was also on the ferry, said that it felt as though the wooden planks of the pier cushioned the boat.

Craig Woods, the general manager of the Franciscan Crab Restaurant, which is located on Pier 43, said earlier yesterday that the ferry boat was wedged under the pier.

Chunks of the wooden pier were visible on the front deck of the boat this evening.

The San Francisco Fire Department, the San Francisco Police Department, and the U.S. Coast Guard were on the scene of the crash.

The Coast Guard and the Port of San Francisco will both be investigating the incident.

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