GRAND ISLE, Vermont – A Lake Champlain ferry with mechanical problems crashed Friday as it came into its dock at the Vermont shore, injuring three, authorities said.
Sgt. Tara Thomas, spokeswoman for the Vermont State Police, said the boat's engines had shut down due to mechanical failure when the crash occurred shortly before 6 p.m. She said two of the injuries were minor and that she had no information on the third.
Mike Noble, a spokesman at the Fletcher Allen Health Care Hospital in Burlington, said three people had been brought from the ferry crash scene to the hospital's emergency room for evaluation. He said he could provide no further information.
State Rep. Mitzi Johnson of neighboring South Hero, a member of that town's rescue squad, said other members had been called to the scene of the ferry crash.
Emergency crews also were called from several other communities in the rural Lake Champlain islands and the Vermont mainland.
Johnson said "there are a few injuries being transported" to a hospital in Burlington, and that the boat's captain was one of those injured.
The boat, operated by Lake Champlain Transportation, was completing a 12-minute trip from Plattsburgh, N.Y. A message left with the company was not immediately returned.
By shortly after 7 p.m., operations at the dock appeared to have returned to normal. Cars were boarding a ferry for the trip to Plattsburgh.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox