Didn't we just read this?

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"katysails" wrote in message
...
2 Dead, 3 Missing After Baltimore Water Taxi Capsizes
Updated 7:27 AM ET March 7, 2004


By Bryan Sears

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - Two people died and another three were missing after a
water taxi filled with tourists capsized in Baltimore harbor in a brief but
fierce storm, a fire department spokesman said Sunday.

The accident occurred when a freak wind flipped the 36-foot boat over during
a thunderstorm on Baltimore's scenic Inner Harbor Saturday, city officials
said.

Two people died and two others were hospitalized in critical condition, said
Baltimore Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright. He held out little
hope that the three missing people would be found alive.

Nearly two dozen people were pulled from the cold water or plucked off the
hull of the overturned boat by Naval reservists.

"The boat tried to turn but the wind took him. There was nothing he could
do. It just took him right over," said Petty Officer Edward Mendez, one of
the Naval reservists on the rescue boat.

The part-time sailors saw the boat capsize in the storm from the dockside of
the U.S. Naval Reserve Center and immediately launched a rescue boat. Two of
the reservists jumped into the water to rescue people unable to scramble
onto the upturned boat.

"It's a very tragic incident but there could have been a greater loss of
life," Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley said.

The boat was operated as a water taxi by the Baltimore-based nonprofit
Living Classrooms Foundation, an educational organization that serves
at-risk youth. It was ferrying tourists around the harbor in warm weather
when the storm struck.

The boat was recovered and will be inspected as part of an investigation by
National Transportation Safety Board officials.



--
katysails
s/v Chanteuse
Kirie Elite 32
http://katysails.tripod.com

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein