The Staten Island Ferry boat seemed to speed up as it approached the dock in a light rain, according to passengers and witnesses in the ferry terminal.
“It looks like it was a mechanical problem,” Janette Sadik-Khan, commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, said at a news conference.
She said it appeared that the captain was unable to slow the boat as it approached the dock.
Sadik-Khan said 37 people were hurt in the accident, including 17 who were sent to the hospital. But she said the injuries were not considered serious.
