No one was seriously hurt
The master of a passenger ferry did not see a dinghy before the boats collided off a NSW central coast beach, the ferry service says.
Five people from the three-metre aluminium runabout, including a five-year-old child, were thrown into the water. No one was seriously hurt.
The collision between the ferry Silver Spirit, operated by FantaSea’s Palm Beach Ferry Service, and the dinghy occurred about 500 metres from Ettalong Beach about 6.30pm.
Palm Beach Ferry Service’s general manager, Matthew Lloyd, said the ferry had just gone past Half Tide Rocks and was “powering up” as it moved towards Wagstaff Point when the boats crashed into each other.
“The small dinghy was not visible to the ferry master until it was too late to avoid a collision,” Mr Lloyd said in a statement.
“The crew of the ferry reacted very quickly in deploying floatation devices and all of the people were removed from the water within [four] minutes of the incident.”
The ferry took those who were rescued to the wharf, where they were assessed by paramedics, a NSW Ambulance spokeswoman said.
No one was taken to hospital.
Mr Lloyd said his company was co-operating fully with NSW Maritime’s investigation into the incident.
Palm Beach Ferry Service has four ferries in its fleet and operates services from Palm Beach to Mackerel via The Basin, and from Palm Beach to Ettalong via Wagstaff.
The Spirit ferry is described on the company’s website as a 24-metre high-speed catarmaran that can carry up to 222 passengers.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald