Several injured in Florida ferry crash

Police and fire crews were responding to a boat crash that injured several people near Clearwater, Florida. The exact number of injuries was not immediately known, but the fire department declared it a mass casualty incident, the Clearwater Police Department said.

At least two people who were “more seriously injured” were taken away by helicopter, police said. 

According to police, a Clearwater Ferry carrying more than 40 people was in a collision with another boat, which fled the scene of the crash. All the people who were injured were on board the ferry, which “came to rest on a sandbar just south of the Memorial Causeway bridge,” police said.

The Coast Guard said it had been notified the other boat was a recreational vehicle.

The Clearwater Memorial Causeway bridge connects Clearwater and Clearwater Beach. 

This is a developing story. It will be updated.