1 useless after tour boat capsizes in Erie Canal water tunnel collapse Lockport, New York

LOCKPORT, N.Y. — One particular person was killed and a number of folks had been despatched to native hospitals after a ship capsized Monday throughout a tour of an underground cavern system constructed to hold water from the Erie Canal beneath the western New York metropolis of Lockport, officers stated.

Police and hearth crews had been referred to as to the Lockport Cave Tours, about 20 miles northeast of Niagara Falls, at about 11:30 a.m. The excursions take guests on an underground boat journey illuminated solely by small lights.

“The boat did a 180-degree turn, so the bottom of the boat was upright in the water,” Lockport Fire Chief Luca Quagliano stated at a information convention. “A number of victims were on top of that boat initially when rescuers got to them.”

He stated all 29 folks on board the flat-bottom boat had been thrown into water between 5 toes and 6 toes deep when the boat apparently turned unbalanced and capsized towards the top of the roughly 300-foot tunnel.

Some passengers had been capable of get to security on their very own. Rescue crews utilizing an inflatable boat rescued about 16 others, he stated.

Authorities didn’t instantly launch the title of the person who died. His spouse was taken to a hospital, officers stated.

“We have had eight of the passengers come into our ER,” stated Patricia Brandt, spokeswoman for Eastern Niagara Hospital in Lockport. “None critical. They’re all stable and some have already been released.”

Brandt stated she didn’t know the character of the accidents however believed some had been handled for chilly from being within the water. Other sufferers went to different hospitals, she stated, however didn’t have particulars.

Jeremy Swiatowy, 42, watched as rescue staff breached the wall to the cave with a sledgehammer earlier than shimmying by means of the outlet to assist rescue the remaining folks inside. Swiatowy stated native schoolchildren typically take excursions on the Lockport, and locals had been involved that kids might need been on the boat that despatched folks into the chilling water.

“The water in the caves is super cold,” he stated.

Video footage from the scene exterior the Lockport Cave workplace confirmed one particular person speaking as she was loaded onto an ambulance. Others wrapped in white towels had been being escorted to a bus as a gentle rain fell.

Photos and movies posted on the Lockport Cave web site present small, flat-bottom boats slipping by means of a rough-hewn tunnel, which was blasted out within the nineteenth century to move additional water from the Erie Canal to energy close by companies.