NEW YORK — A chartered private boat capsized on the Hudson River Tuesday — killing a little boy and a woman who were among 12 passengers dumped into the water, officials said.
The private boat flipped around 2:46 p.m. off Pier 84 near W. 46 St. and 12th Ave. in Midtown, police and fire officials said. All the riders were pulled from the water, but a 7-year-old boy and a 50-year-old woman later died.
The 27-foot vessel was chartered by a family and friends, officials said.
A witness on the New Jersey shoreline watched as the boaters clung to the flipped vessel.
“There were about four people on top of the bottom of the boat screaming,” said Raidy Garcia, 28. “I couldn’t make out anything other than their screams.”
Two NY Waterways ferries — the Garden State and the John Stevens — rescued nine passengers from the water, a NY Waterway spokesperson said.
“Another boat was pulling people out of the water,” said Emily Ryan, 39. “When we went by there were tons of red life vests floating in the water.”
A boy and young woman went missing, prompting NYPD and FDNY divers to leap into the river in search of them.
As divers were searching the murky water, the NYPD’s aviation unit hovered above the river. Divers found the victims, whom they described as having swallowed water.
Both the boy and woman were unresponsive when they were rescued, officials said.
“Other smaller boats were getting people out of the water,” said Ryan, a tourist from Calgary, Canada. “It was incredible.”
Three victims are critical at area hospitals, officials said.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell applauded the rescue workers at a somber news conference Tuesday evening.
“This is a tragic day for new Yorkers,” Sewell said. “Indeed it may have well been worse for it not have been the incredible efforts by not only our own extraordinary first responders, but also the swift response from the New York Waterway ferries, who rescued nine additional people from the water.”
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