Last Saturday night at about 10:25 pm, a 22-foot Bayliner bow rider with 14 people aboard capsized near Liberty Island in New York Harbor. All passengers were tossed into the water and two, tragically, lost their lives.
The boat operator, Manuel Hernandes, 46, has been arrested and charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment. The Coast Guard is working with the NYPD to “determine whether the boat in question was engaged in an illegal charter operation.”
When the capsize happened, a nearby boater called 911 and rescue teams from New Jersey were quickly on the scene and able to pull survivors who were clinging to the overturned boat from the eater.
Sadly, Sara Sanchez, 27, of Queens and her baby daughter Antonella Garcia, were taken to a Brooklyn hospital where they later both died. Sanchez and her daughter lived in New York’s College Point neighborhood. A neighbor, Diego Naranjo, told reporters, “She was a beautiful person, very kind, friendly and respectful.”
Sanchez’ husband and six year old son were not aboard the Bayliner. The family is originally from Colombia.
Manuel Hernandez is a limousine driver and owner of his own 24-foot center console in which he occasionally took passengers out on paid charters. Last Saturday, Hernandez had to borrow the 22-foot boat for the even cruise from a friend since his own boat was out of commission.
It is not clear at thjis point whether the friend was aware that Hernandez was engaged in a charter or that he was taking 14 people of the evening. The boat has a nominal capacity of 10 people, so the boat’s capacity may have legal implications since the accident resulted in two deaths.
