Ferry runs aground near Seattle; no injuries reported

SEATTLE — (AP) — A passenger ferry carrying tons of of individuals ran aground close to Bainbridge Island west of Seattle on Saturday however there have been no speedy stories of accidents or contamination, authorities mentioned.

The Walla Walla ran aground in Wealthy Passage round 4:30 p.m. because it was touring from town of Bremerton to Seattle, in response to Washington State Ferries, a division of the state Division of Transportation.

“Preliminary indications are the vessel suffered a generator failure,” however investigators had been nonetheless trying into what occurred, the company mentioned.

There have been 596 passengers and 15 crew members aboard, in response to ferries spokesperson Diane Rhodes. A tug boat and the Coast Guard had been on the scene.

“Low tide is about 8:09 p.m.,” Rhodes wrote in an e-mail. “We’re coordinating with native transit to have buses standing by.”

“We’re retaining passengers onboard. … Vessel engineers imagine tide will probably be on the proper top to soundly tow the boat at midnight. We apologize to passengers. Their security is our first precedence,” the ferries company mentioned in a while Twitter.

The state Division of Ecology posted a photograph on-line exhibiting the vessel close to the shore. As individuals checked out it from the seaside and snapped footage, a tug was positioned at one of many finish of the ferry with an obvious Coast Guard boat close by.

“No air pollution or hull injury detected at the moment,” the division mentioned. “Ecology responders on the best way to the scene.”

The Pacific Northwest Coast Guard dispatched crews on cutters and a helicopter.

The Seattle-Bremerton route was out of service till additional discover, the Division of Transportation mentioned on its web site.

The web site lists the Walla Walla as a four-engine, jumbo class ferry with a most capability of two,000 passengers and 188 automobiles. It’s 440 ft in size with a draft of 18 ft.

The Walla Walla was constructed in 1973 in Seattle and rebuilt in 2003, in response to the location.

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