2 Dead, 3 Missing After Baltimore Water Taxi Capsizes=20
Updated 7:27 AM ET March 7, 2004=20


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.=20



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