Multiple people were injured after a boat struck a ferry carrying dozens of passengers near the Clearwater Memorial Causeway in western Florida on April 27, authorities said.
The crash involved the Clearwater Ferry, which had over 40 people on board, according to the Clearwater Police Department. The Clearwater Fire and Rescue Department declared the crash a “mass casualty incident” due to the number of injuries, police added.
By 10:45 p.m., the city of Clearwater reported that six people were declared trauma alerts, including two people who were being transported by helicopter. The city noted that there were no immediate reports of any missing people from the ferry.
“All of the injuries are from the ferry,” the Clearwater Police Department said in a statement on X. “The boat that struck the ferry fled the scene.”
It was not immediately known how many were injured in the incident, but police said multiple trauma alerts were called, and all local hospitals had been notified.
The U.S. Coast Guard said watchstanders from its St. Petersburg, Florida, sector were notified at around 8:40 p.m. of a collision between the ferry and a recreational vessel. The ferry later stopped on a sandbar just south of the bridge and all passengers on board were removed from the boat, according to police.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will handle the crash investigation, the Clearwater Police Department confirmed on X.
USA TODAY has reached out to the U.S. Coast Guard for comment.
The Clearwater Memorial Causeway is a six-lane bridge between downtown Clearwater and Clearwater Beach, Florida. The bridge is about 23 miles west of Tampa, Florida.
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