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By Shane Croucher and Alia Shoaib
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One person died and others were injured when a boat crashed into a ferry before fleeing the scene in Clearwater, Florida, on Sunday.
The crash was declared a "mass casualty incident" by the Clearwater Fire & Rescue Department because of the number of injuries.
Those injured were on board the Clearwater Ferry, which was carrying about 45 people at the time of the incident. Police did not provide any information about the person who died.
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Newsweek has contacted the Clearwater Police Department, the U.S. Coast Guard and Clearwater Fire & Rescue for comment outside regular working hours.
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What To Know
Sunday's crash took place on the final night of the annual Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival on Clearwater Beach, with the ferry being used to transport many festivalgoers.
The U.S. Coast Guard said on X, formerly Twitter, that it was notified of the incident around 8:40 p.m. It said initial reports indicated that 45 people were on board the ferry and that six people were on the other boat.
Police said all injuries were sustained on board the ferry, which came to rest on a sandbar south of the Memorial Causeway bridge.
"All patients and passengers have been removed from the boat," police wrote on X, adding: "All local hospitals have been notified. Multiple trauma alerts have been called with helicopters transporting two of the more seriously injured."
The total number of injured patients is unknown. One patient was transported to Bayfront Hospital with a femur fracture and another with unknown injuries, NBC reported, citing an Orlando Health spokesperson.
In an update late on Sunday, police confirmed that one person had died from injuries sustained during the crash.
Police also said they believed they had found the other boat involved in the crash.
"We believe that the boat responsible for hitting the ferry left the scene immediately, and we believe that our law enforcement partners may have that boat," Clearwater Police spokesperson Rob Shaw told NBC.
Videos of the incident showed several first responders rushing to the scene. Police cautioned drivers to avoid Memorial Causeway bridge.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will investigate the crash.
One of the passengers on the ferry, Marco Vacheco, told 10 Tampa Bay that he was returning from the Sugar Sand Festival when the vessel was "hit from behind."
"It was like a big yacht. It hit from behind. It came through where the captain sits. Like, he was pinned down," he said.
"People ended up being knocked over by the yacht that came in," Vacheco continued. "There was a lot of injuries and a lot of craziness happening all at once."
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