Ferry runs aground close to Seattle; no accidents reported

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Ferry runs aground close to Seattle; no accidents reported

SEATTLE (AP) — A passenger ferry carrying a whole bunch of individuals ran aground close to Bainbridge Island west of Seattle on Saturday however there have been no stories of accidents or contamination, authorities stated.

The Walla Walla ran aground in Wealthy Passage round 4:30 p.m. because it was touring from town of Bremerton to Seattle, in keeping with Washington State Ferries, a division of the state Division of Transportation.

“Preliminary indications are the vessel suffered a generator failure,” however investigators had been nonetheless trying into what occurred, the company stated.

Passenger Haley Socha told The Seattle Times that the ferry’s lights went out about 20 minutes into the voyage and the engines stopped. The lights got here again on after a minute and there was an alarm and an announcement saying the vessel had no propulsion and warning folks to brace for impression.

Folks helped each other as they donned life vests, Socha stated.

“Everyone’s been very nice and good to one another,” Socha advised the Occasions.

There have been 596 passengers and 15 crew members aboard, in keeping with ferries spokesperson Diane Rhodes. A tug boat and the Coast Guard had been on the scene.

“Vessel engineers consider tide will likely be on the proper top to securely tow the boat at midnight. We apologize to passengers. Their security is our first precedence,” Washington State Ferries stated through Twitter.

Passengers had been initially stored onboard. One passenger suffered a medical emergency unrelated to the grounding and necessitated an evacuation, the company stated.

Round 8 p.m., Kitsap Transit started taking others off the boat, ferry officers stated. The transit company deployed two passenger-only vessels, the Commander and the Waterman, with respective capacities of 250 and 150 passengers, requiring a number of journeys to the Walla Walla. Round 8:30, Kitsap Transit reported the Commander had delivered the primary load of individuals to the slip at Bremerton.

“We’re engaged on a plan for the autos onboard so passengers can retrieve them tomorrow,” Washington State Ferries stated.

A photograph taken by a Coast Guard officer confirmed the Walla Walla close to the shore as folks checked out it from the seaside and snapped footage. A tug was positioned at one finish of the ferry with an obvious Coast Guard boat close by.

“No air pollution or hull harm detected presently,” the state Division of Ecology reported. “Ecology responders on the way in which to the scene.”

The Seattle-Bremerton route was out of service till additional discover, the Division of Transportation stated on its web site.

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The web site lists the Walla Walla as a four-engine, jumbo class ferry with a most capability of two,000 passengers and 188 autos. It’s 440 toes (134 meters) in size with a draft of 18 toes (5.4 meters).

The Walla Walla was constructed in 1973 in Seattle and rebuilt in 2003, in keeping with the location.

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Related Press author Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles contributed.

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