One person died and several were hospitalized Monday after a boat capsized during a cave tour in Lockport, New York, authorities said.
Lockport police and fire departments responded to the scene about 20 miles northeast of Niagara Falls at around 11:30 a.m. after the flat-bottom tour boat apparently became unbalanced and overturned, killing a man who got trapped underneath, officials said.
All 29 people on board − 28 passengers and a tour employee − were flung into water 5-6 feet deep toward the end of the ride in a tunnel, Lockport Fire Chief Luca Quagliano said at a news conference.
The name of the man who died was not released. Officials said his wife was one of 11 people taken to local hospitals, mostly with minor injuries.
The tours take visitors on an underground boat ride illuminated only by small lights.
What happened on the boat tour?
“The boat did a 180-degree turn, so the bottom of the boat was upright in the water,” Quagliano said. “A number of victims were on top of that boat initially when rescuers got to them.”
Quagliano said 16 passengers were rescued by crews with an inflatable boat, while others reached safety on their own.
“The water in the caves is super cold,” said Jeremy Swiatowy, 42, who watched as rescue workers breached the wall to the tunnel with a sledgehammer before squeezing through the hole to reach people inside.
Seven people were treated at the Eastern Niagara Hospital emergency room, spokesperson Patricia Kingston-Brandt said, adding later that six were discharged and the other one would be released in the evening.
“It’s a very confined area, and any time a boat is capsized I can imagine there would be some related injuries,” Kingston-Brandt said.
Nearby streets were closed to make room for rescue vehicles and crews.
Video footage from the scene outside the Lockport Cave office showed one person talking as she was loaded onto an ambulance. Others wrapped in white towels were being escorted to a bus as a steady rain fell.
The…
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