21 U.S. seniors perish as tour boat capsizes
‘PEOPLE WERE FRANTIC’ Family recalls horror of rescue attempt Vessel overturns in calm waters on upstate N. Y. lake Tour reportedly operated by Canadian firm
A gorgeous fall day on an upstate New York lake ended in tragedy yesterday when 21 of the 49 people on a Canadianorganized boat tour — all senior citizens, some in wheelchairs — drowned in the chilly waters after the vessel overturned.
Police initially had conflicting reports about the origins of the tour group. Shortly after the tragedy unfolded, sheriff’s officers reported that the group was from Canada, but eventually, it was found that most of the victims were from Michigan. The initial confusion may have resulted because the seniors, from the small U. S. city of Trenton, just south of Detroit, were reportedly participating in a tour operated by a Canadian company.
It was a horrific scene on the lake when the Ethan Allen turned turtle at about 2: 55 p. m. on the Adirondack Mountain lake about 80 kilometres north of the state capital, Albany.
“ It was like ‘ Oh my god, there’s so many people,’ and then we realized that it was the boat that had overturned, and our main concern was to help the people get out of the water because they were elderly,” said Joanne Rahal, who with her family helped pulled people out of the water.
“ When we got there, the boat was on its side, and people were trapped underneath. There were people in the water they were trying to, like, lift up the boat to let people out, and there were bodies floating in the water.
“ It took about 15 or 20 minutes for it to sink,” Rahal told the Toronto Star
in a telephone interview. “ It was a terrible, terrible thing.” The 12- metre, glass- enclosed Ethan Allen flipped in clear, calm and warm conditions yesterday afternoon at the south end of eight-kilometre-long, three- kilometre- wide Lake George.
It is a popular tourist destination that bustles in the summer and quiets down after Labour Day. The lake was busy with boats — unusual for early October — as people enjoyed the lovely weather. The accident happened so fast, many of the elderly passengers — some of whom boarded the boat with walkers or wheelchairs — didn’t have time to put on lifejackets.
Rahal, her husband Mounir, and their family live in Queensbury, N. Y., about 10 minutes from Lake George, and were in their boat when the accident happened. They saw an unusual plume of smoke towering up over the water and went to investigate. When they arrived — the second boat to do so — they confronted a scene of chaos and terror as the elderly passengers flailed about helplessly, calling for help from their rescuers.
“ Some of the people did have (life jackets) on, but others didn’t have them,” Rahal said. New York State law requires that personal flotation devices must be provided for passengers, but they do not have to be worn or used.
“ We were throwing life jackets and whatever I had on the boat, preservers, everything . . . so we were just trying to get the people out of the water, bring them out of the water on to our boat because there were still people caught under the other boat.” The Rahal’s boat is big, 8 metres long with a 4- metre beam, and the family was concerned about getting too close and making the situation worse.
Officials say the Ethan Allen was about 150 to 215 metres offshore, in about 18 to 21 metres of cold water, when it went under.
“ The people were frantic in the water, and we were frantic trying to save them. . . . There were other boats that came to help and others that just went on by,” Rahal said. “ Maybe they didn’t realize what was going on.”
Rahal and her family were able to pull eight people on to their vessel. The water was very cold, and they attempted to warm the passengers with blankets, and the extra clothing they had with them on the boat.
Eventually, despite their best efforts, two of the passengers died as Rahal and her family looked on helplessly.
“ My daughter and I both performed CPR on people that we had taken out of the water, and were unconscious,” says Rahal. “ It was the worse thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” By late afternoon, 27 of the seniors, many in pain from their injuries, were taken to Glens Falls Hospital, all cold and wet, some with broken ribs and some complaining of shortness of breath, according to hospital spokesperson Jason White. He said five people would be admitted to the hospital. Administrators were working with the tour operator to get the rest of the victims back to their hotel.
While initial reports said the tour group was from Ontario, according to the Glens Falls Post- Star, the local sheriff’s office said late last night that the victims were American, all from Trenton and area, south of Detroit.
“ None of them were Canadian citizens,” Warren County UnderSheriff Shane Ross said last night.
In Trenton, local officials were blindsided by the news from New York, and said they were busy with the job of notifying the next of kin of the dead.
“ They’re still trying to get us a list,” said Lieutenant Rick Clawson of the Trenton police department. “It’s unbelievable. It’s just such a shame.”
Shoreline Cruises operates a handful of boats in the region. The company’s owner, Jim Quirk, whose family has owned and operated Shoreline Cruises for decades, paced helplessly along the lakeside walkway as the dead and injured were brought ashore.
“ It is a tragedy and it’s very unfortunate,” he told the Post- Star.
According to New Jersey Superior Court documents on another matter, Shoreline Cruises is currently being sued in a personal injury case.
Patrol boats that reached the scene within minutes found other boaters already pulling people from the water. The area, rescuers said, was a chaotic mix of sheriff’s boats, personal watercraft and pleasure boats, all drawn by the smoke and cries of distress echoing out over the calm waters.
Initial reports said that the overturning of the boat was caused by a wake left by the Mohican, another big lake tour boat, operated by the Lake George Steamboat Co. Some witnesses blamed the accident on the wake created by the Mohican, but others said it was too far away to have had an effect. When reached, a member of the Dow family, which runs the Steamboat Co., refused to comment.
Rahal doesn’t believe the wake story is likely.
“ I know on the news people were saying something about how it was caused by the Mohican passing, but I saw it and it was on the other side of the lake, so I highly doubt the waves from the Mohican had any input on
that boat tipping over,”
she said.
“ Besides,” Rahal added, the Ethan Allen
“ was a good size boat. I
didn’t see any waves
over there that could have caused them to tip over.”
Other reports indicated that a majority of the passengers moved to one side of the boat, possibly to look at the sights or another tour boat, creating an imbalance that could have caused the Ethan Allen to tip. One thing that wasn’t a factor was the weather.
“ This was as calm as it gets,” said Jerry Thornell, a Marion, Mass., resident who has a summer home in nearby Bolton. Thornell is a former Lake George Park Commission patrol officer and was a lake enforcement officer for the county sheriff’s department. The only crew on the ship was the captain, identified as Richard Paris, a Lake George resident. He survived the incident. As rescuers conducted recovery efforts, the dead were laid out along the shore and the grim scene was blocked off by police with tarps as tourists and bystanders watched from behind police rope lines. About 6: 35 p. m. a hearse, police vehicles and several SUVs began taking the dead from the scene. Boats and divers were still searching the area for wreckage and bodies. As of last night, Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland said, criminal charges were likely not warranted, but police were investigating if the boat had exceeded its capacity.
“Nothing of this magnitude has ever happened,” state police Superintendent Wayne Bennett said. “ It’s unprecedented.’’
It’s too early to tell what this tragedy will do to the reputation of the Lake George region, heavily dependent on tourism. The area is known for its beautiful rolling, forested country and lakes, and, with its many family- friendly attractions, it’s a popular spot for tourists from both sides of the border.
“ I’ve been all over the world, and nothing compares to here,” said Rahal.