Tour boat capsize in underground cave wasn’t the first, agency says; passenger recounts ordeal
LOCKPORT, N.Y. –
Soon after a tour boat flipped over throughout a tour of a dimly lit cavern system, leaving one passenger useless, members of one other group recalled the same expertise whereas taking the identical tour eight years in the past and questioned whether or not something had been accomplished since then to make the attraction safer.
News of the 2015 capsizing emerged because the investigation into Monday’s accident continued — and a passenger who survived the newest ordeal recounted how he fought to breathe beneath the the wrong way up craft.
The flat-bottomed boat carrying native hospitality staff capsized throughout a tour of a historic underground water tunnel off the Erie Canal within the western New York metropolis of Lockport.
Eight years earlier, purchasers and employees of the previous Baker Victory Services ended up within the water when their boat additionally flipped, mentioned John Pitts, spokesman for the company, which has since been renamed OLV Human Services.
Few particulars concerning the incident had been obtainable, in accordance with Pitts, who arrived the next yr. He mentioned it was unclear whether or not it was formally reported.
“I wish I knew more, but all I understand is that there was an incident where a boat had turned over and our staff and various individuals helped individuals out of the water to safety,” he mentioned.
On Monday, one man died and 11 folks had been taken to hospitals, principally with minor accidents, after the tour boat operated by Lockport Cave Tours capsized.
“By the time I realized what happened, the boat was on top of me and I couldn’t find any air pockets or anything. And I’m just trying to, like, breathe because I’m underwater,” survivor Daniel Morrissette instructed ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview aired Tuesday.
The passenger who died additionally was trapped beneath the boat. Lockport police late Tuesday recognized him as Harshad Shah. An on-line obituary from M.J. Colucci & Son Niagara Funeral Chapel recognized Shah as a 65-year-old Niagara Falls resident who served as president of the Budget Host Inn in Niagara Falls.
“His wife remains in shock, unable to come to terms with this fatal event that unfolded before her eyes,” a press release from Shah’s household, tweeted by WRGZ, mentioned. “We are all seeking answers to the why and how of this tragedy.”
Lockport Mayor Michelle Roman mentioned throughout a news convention that the attraction, situated about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Niagara Falls, has operated because the mid-Seventies with out incident.
That’s when Sheri Scavone mentioned she “lost it.” She mentioned her son, then 15, was on the boat that capsized in 2015 and continues to be traumatized by the expertise he remembers vividly.
“Thankfully, this kid knew how to swim and was strong,” Scavone mentioned by telephone Tuesday, “but there was nothing to grab onto, the sides were slippery. It was pitch black. The boat was capsized.”
At the time, Scavone was solely involved together with her son’s well-being, she mentioned. Now she needs she hadn’t let it go and is troubled that the excursions have continued to function with out no less than handing out life jackets.
The tour boat’s operator has not responded to requests for remark.
Samantha North instructed The Buffalo News that she additionally was on the 2015 tour as an worker of Baker Victory.
The boat grew to become unbalanced and flipped halfway via the tour, she mentioned, after passengers had been instructed to face up and switch round for the return journey.
“It seemed like it took forever” to get out of the chilly water, she mentioned, the place passengers, purses, cellphones, keys and different belongings ended up.
Elizabeth Morrissette, who appeared on “GMA” alongside her husband, Daniel, mentioned folks had been panicking and yelling loudly Monday as she and the opposite passengers had been thrown into the water, which emergency officers mentioned was between 5 ft and 6 ft deep.
Some passengers had been in a position to get to security themselves. Emergency crews used an inflatable boat to rescue about 16 others, hearth officers mentioned.
City of Lockport Police had been investigating the accident. The mayor’s workplace and hearth chief didn’t reply to emails and texts searching for an replace Tuesday.
The excursions take guests on an underground boat experience via a rough-hewn tunnel, which was blasted out within the nineteenth century to move canal water as an industrial energy supply.
