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Taxi boat, kayaks collide on Hudson River; one person critically injured

A kayaking guide was hospitalized with a nearly severed arm.

By Ed Adamczyk
An empty kayak floats next to a rescue boat after 11 kayakers and a water taxi collided on the Hudson River in New York Tuesday. One person in a kayak was severely injured. Screenshot courtesy of WABC-TV, New York.
An empty kayak floats next to a rescue boat after 11 kayakers and a water taxi collided on the Hudson River in New York Tuesday. One person in a kayak was severely injured. Screenshot courtesy of WABC-TV, New York.

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Six people were injured when a ferry boat crossing New York's Hudson River between Manhattan's West Side and New Jersey struck a group of kayakers.

A group of ten people paddling kayaks, led by an instructor in a kayak, were in the water at sunset Tuesday evening when they were struck by a NY Waterways Water Taxi carrying several hundred people traveling from Manhattan to Jersey City. Five kayakers were taken to Bellevue Hospital and Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hospital with minor injuries, but the instructor's arm was nearly severed in the accident, an officer of the New York Police Department Harbor Unit said. The unidentified instructor was hospitalized in critical condition.

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"His bone was exposed. He lost a lot of blood and he was lapsing in and out of consciousness," David Driscoll, commanding officer of the Harbor Unit told WABC-TV, New York.

The U.S. Coast Guard, the New York Police Department, the New York Fire Department and the Jersey City Fire Department were involved in the rescue of the kayakers from the water.

The commuter taxi was filled to capacity at the time of the incident, and the low sun made visibility difficult, WABC-TV reported. The boat's captain was tested for alcohol by the Coast Guard, with the result showing no indication he'd been drinking.

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Kayaking on New York's Hudson River is a popular activity, and the Harbor Unit has advised that both the water taxi's captain and the kayakers have an obligation to stay out of each other's way.

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