Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
Get the news
Log In or Subscribe to skip
[h=6]Share This Story![/h]Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about
[h=4]Tugboat crash: 2nd body recovered; 1 missing[/h]Tugboat pulling crane from Albany to Jersey City collided with bridge construction barge.
{# #}
[h=4]Sent![/h]A link has been sent to your friend's email address.
[h=4]Posted![/h]A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.
[h=6]Join the Nation's Conversation[/h]To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs
[h=2]UP NEXT[/h][h=2]03[/h]
Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino talks about the recovery of a second body from the fatal tugboat accident on the Hudson River, March 13, 2016. (Video by Mark Vergari/The Journal News)
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Mark Magrino, speaks to the media about the recovery operations after the fatal boat crash on the Hudson River, as Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino, left, and Public Safety Commissioner George Longworth look on March 13, 2016.(Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News)
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>A second body was recovered from the Hudson River on Sunday after a tugboat crashed into a barge at the Tappan Zee Bridge construction site early Saturday morning.
The body was that of crew member Timothy Conklin, 29, of Westbury, Long Island, and was found inside the 90-foot-long tugboat. His body was recovered<span style="color: Red;">*</span>around 11 a.m. ET Sunday.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Conklin's family is in shock. "Yesterday we were chatting. They were hoping<span style="color: Red;">*</span>against hope ... for a different outcome,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Cuomo said Sunday at a news conference<span style="color: Red;">*</span>near where the body was pulled from the water in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Tarrytown.
Conklin "called one of his brothers a couple of days ago and was concerned about this voyage because the currents were very, very strong," said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino at<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a separate press<span style="color: Red;">*</span>conference on the Tarrytown waterfront.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Astorino said Conklin was survived by his father, two brothers and his longtime girlfriend.
USA TODAY
5 questions (and answers) about the new Tappan Zee
"Obviously this is a moment of sadness for them," he said, flanked by Coast Guard<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Lt.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Mark Mangino and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Westchester County Sheriff George Longworth.
Still missing and presumed dead is crew member Harry Fernandez, 56, from Staten Island.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Dive teams suspended their search for Fernandez Sunday<span style="color: Red;">*</span>afternoon due to unfavorable<span style="color: Red;">*</span>river conditions and planned to resume around 5 p.m. when "slack tide" conditions promised<span style="color: Red;">*</span>quieter currents and more visibility for scuba divers.
"The conditions are very difficult. The visibility is estimated to be six inches, so much of the diving involved is actually done by feel," Cuomo said.
A Coast Guard boat passes near the site of a fatal collision in the water underneath the Tappan Zee Bridge on March 12, 2016.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Seth Wenig, AP)
The victim who was recovered Saturday was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>identified as<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Paul Amon, 63, of Bayville, N.J.
Amon was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>pulled from the 40-degree water and taken to the New York side of the river, where he was pronounced dead soon after the crash.
The tugboat Specialist sank within minutes of the collision and is resting under 40 feet of water,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>leaking 5,000 gallons of fuel. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has been at the scene.
Cuomo said that a fuel<span style="color: Red;">*</span>sheen was visible on the river<span style="color: Red;">*</span>along with the odor of diesel fuel.
USA TODAY
New name for N.Y.'s Tappan Zee Bridge?
Cuomo called the 5:15 a.m. crash <span style="color: Red;">*</span>a "tragic accident" during a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Saturday<span style="color: Red;">*</span>afternoon visit to South Nyack where he took a boat tour of the scene.
"You have three people who left for work and who aren’t going to come home," he said.
An investigation by multiple agencies, including the state police and U.S. Coast Guard, will try to determine what led to the crash —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the second deadly wreck involving a barge connected with the Tappan Zee Bridge construction.
The bridge connects Rockland County, N.J., with Westchester County, N.Y., north of New York City. The new cable-stayed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>span is expected to be completed in 2018, replacing the 16,000-foot-long cantilever<span style="color: Red;">*</span>bridge, which opened in 1955.
State Police divers began searching for the missing divers about 12 hours after the crash. Earlier Saturday, they used sonar equipment to determine the exact location of the sunken tug to assess whether it was safe to send divers.
A New York City police boat sits at the Tarrytown docks early Sunday morning, March 13, 2016, after a fatal boating accident the day before. <span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News)
Authorities said three tugboats were moving<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a barge from Albany, the New York<span style="color: Red;">*</span>capital,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to Jersey City, N.J., when one of the three tugs<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>situated on the right side as it headed south —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>hit the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>stationary construction barge.
A tugboat pushing the barge on its<span style="color: Red;">*</span>left side, as well as one pushing the barge from the rear, were not involved in the accident.
Cuomo said in a statement that 21 workers were on the bridge construction barge that was hit, but none of them was injured.
"Sometimes you wonder about lessons," Cuomo said. "This appears to be a pure accident. The barge was stationary. The tugboat crew knew they were too close. ...<span style="color: Red;">*</span>They simply<span style="color: Red;">*</span>couldn't move in time."
James Mercante, an attorney for the owner of Specialist, said the crew was licensed, competent and experienced.
USA TODAY
Microbeads an irritation in N.Y., Jersey waters
“It’s a shocking, horrific marine tragedy,” Mercante said. “Right now the company is more concerned with the families of the crew and mourning.”
A spokeswoman for Tappan Zee Constructors, a consortium of companies building the new bridge, said the company is cooperating in the investigation.
The crash occurred near the scene of a 2013 boat crash that killed a bride-to-be and her fiancé’s best man. That incident, which killed Lindsey Stewart and Mark Lennon, both 30, also involved a Tappan Zee Bridge construction barge.
Contributing: Jane Lerner, The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News, and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The Associated Press. Follow Adrienne Sanders on Twitter:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>@ASKSanders
0) { %> 0) { %>
0) { %>
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed