Florida boat collision leaves 1 dead, at least a dozen injured

Investigators search the wreckage of a Clearwater Ferry after a boat crashed into the ferry causing multiple injuries near the Clearwater Memorial Causeway Bridge, on Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Clearwater, Fla. (Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A boat crashed into a ferry transporting 45 people on the final day of a sand-sculpting festival in Florida, killing one person and injuring at least 12 others, officials said.

The crash late Sunday in calm waters off Clearwater on the western Florida coast set off an emergency response due to the high number of possible casualties.

“We were just enjoying the ride and all of a sudden we heard the first mate yelling. `hey hey hey,”’ Marco Vacheco, who was on the ferry with Brenda Alvarez and their two young children, told WFTS. “And we looked back behind us and this big yacht just came through the boat.”

The boat then fled the scene, authorities said.

The Clearwater Police Department posted on X that there were multiple injuries, and the crash in the Intracoastal Waterway had been declared “a mass casualty incident” by the Clearwater Fire & Rescue Department due to the number of injuries.

All of those injured were aboard the ferry. Police did not provide any information about the person who died, but a news conference was scheduled for Monday afternoon.

The ferry came to rest on a sandbar just south of the Memorial Causeway bridge and all patients and passengers have been removed.

“You never expect any of this to happen,” Brenda Alvarez said. “We can’t understand how fast they were going, like how that is even logically possible that they hit and were able to get off like that.”

The family was not injured in the crash.

The U.S. Coast Guard said in a social media post that on-scene reports indicate that all 45 people on the ferry and all six people on the boat were accounted for. In an update on Monday morning, the Coast Guard said 12 people were taken to a local hospital.

Police did not immediately provide any information about the boat that fled the scene.

“All local hospitals have been notified. Multiple trauma alerts have been called with helicopters transporting two of the more seriously injured,” the post said.

Videos on social media showed several first responders rushing to the scene with lights flashing.

Sunday was the last day of the Sugar Sand Festival, a 17-day sand-sculpting festival in Clearwater Beach.

Police cautioned drivers to avoid Memorial Causeway.

The Coast Guard said the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission will lead the investigation into the cause of the crash.