NEW YORK -
said witness William Gonzalez, who lives in a nearby apartment complex. They had no control to stop the boat.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known. The National Transportation Safety Board convened an accident investigation team. It will examine weather among other factors.
Commuters were trapped in piles of debris aboard the 22-year-old ferry, and victims screamed and dove for cover as metal crunched into wood just before the start of the evening rush hour, tearing girders, splintering planks and ripping a huge hole in the side of the vessel.
The accident ended an otherwise routine trip to Staten Island from lower Manhattan, a five-mile crossing that usually takes 25 minutes. A free ride on the Staten Island Ferry is one of the city's most beloved attractions to New Yorkers and tourists alike, taking visitors past the Statue of Liberty and giving them a Hollywood-style view of lower Manhattan's skyscrapers.
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The Associated Press
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Officials inspect the top deck of a ferry boat in Staten Island, N.Y., that was involved in a fatal accident yesterday.
