NEW YORK — The woman and 7-year-old boy killed when their chartered boat capsized in the Hudson River were part of a family of tourists visiting from Colombia, police sources said Wednesday.
Lindelia Vasquez, 47, and little Julian Vasquez were with about 10 family members visiting from the South American country when they got on the doomed boat Tuesday afternoon.
Their family was staying at a hotel in New Jersey, police sources said.
The private 27-foot vessel capsized off Pier 84 near W. 46th St. and 12th Ave. about 2:45 p.m., dumping the victims and their relatives into the water.
The owner of the boat was trailing behind the group on a jet ski when the wake from a passing ferry rocked the vessel, capsizing it, police sources said. Investigators believe the boat was overloaded.
Two NY Waterway ferries — the Garden State and the John Stevens — arrived quickly and rescued nine passengers from the water, a NY Waterway spokesperson said.
“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.”
FDNY divers found Lindelia and Julian in the water. They were rushed to an area hospital but couldn’t be saved.
“I was checking for an air pocket for myself (under the capsized boat) and while I’m doing that, located a small person” with “a vest on,” FDNY diver Ryan Warnock said at a press conference Tuesday evening. “Rescue medics with there and they started to intubate and do CPR.”
“Any time it’s a child... your emotional state changes, but you just have a job to do and you do it and we train for this,” he said.
Photos of the aftermath showed survivors clasping their heads in disbelieve and slumped in agony.
