Niamh Shackleton
Authorities have declared a 'mass casualty incident' after a boat collided with a ferry carrying up to 50 people.
Around 8:30pm local time yesterday (April 27), a privately owned boat crashed into a ferry near Florida's Memorial Causeway.
"Along with @clearwaterfire, we’re working a boat crash off the Memorial Causeway bridge that has resulted in multiple injuries," the Clearwater Police Department said in a statement shared on social media.
"It’s been declared a mass casualty incident by the fire department due to the number of injuries. All local hospitals have been notified. Multiple trauma alerts have been called with helicopters transporting two of the more seriously injured. Drivers should avoid Memorial Causeway."
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At the time of writing, one person is confirmed to have died in last night's crash. Law enforcement said in its most recent update: "One person has died from injuries in tonight’s boat crash. @MyFWC will be handing the crash investigation."
As well as one death, multiple people have been injured in the ordeal including six who have been declared as 'trauma alerts', meaning that they've experienced 'series injury' that requires immediate and specialized care.
Two of the six patients had to transported to hospital by helicopter.
All of the injured people had been on the ferry.
Four people were reportedly taken to Morton Plant Hospital, located less than a mile from the crash site, Tampa Bay Times reports.
Elsewhere, two female patients were transported to Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital in St. Petersburg where they have a Level II trauma center.
Another patient was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa.
There's yet to be any arrests made as the person driving the boat that crashed into ferry fled the scene. With this in mind, officials are asking for people to come forward with information.
Information officer Rob Shaw with the City of Clearwater said, as per ABC Action News: "We believe the boat responsible for hitting the ferry left the scene immediately and we believe our law enforcement partners are at another location with that boat right now, but we are still asking anybody who has information anyone that witnessed anything anyone that may have any video to contact us."
According to Tampa Bay Times, the driver of the boat has since been successfully located. The news outlet said that 'a large police scene later developed around a center console boat just a few miles from the scene'.
The individual, who has not been identified, was said to have been found by a partnering law enforcement agency.