Sunken tug raised, report expected next week
Salvage team recovers boat, third crew member near Tappan Zee Bridge.
TARRYTOWN - The raising of a sunken tugboat Thursday brought closure to a family and will give investigators critical pieces to the puzzle of how the vessel ended up at the bottom of the Hudson River, officials said.
The tugboat Specialist and the body of its third crew member, Harry Hernandez, were recovered almost two weeks after the boat smashed into a construction barge and sank near the Tappan Zee Bridge in the early morning darkness on March 12.
The boat will be taken to Newark, New Jersey, today, the Coast Guard said this morning.
Officials hope that a preliminary report on the accident, which killed all three people on board the tugboat, will be available next week, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said.
The family of Hernandez, a 56-year-old Staten Island resident, watched from shore Thursday as his body was recovered. Family members waved white flags with pink hearts as they stood near the river.
Astorino said he had spoken with Hernandez's family.
"Obviously it's been a traumatic experience for them," he said. "This was unfortunately a fateful journey. Today brings closure to them in many ways."
Investigators are collecting evidence on the boat, which was brought to the water's surface and tethered to a barge. Later Thursday it was to be put onto a barge and moved to a nearby mooring for further investigation, officials said.
"The forensic investigation and the evidence that's being collected today will hopefully tell us the final story, the full story, on how this tugboat sunk, and how three people on board drowned," said Astorino.
The bodies of the two other crew members were recovered following the accident, but divers could not access Hernandez's body, which was blocked by debris and damaged parts of the boat.
Salvage crews began hoisting the 84-foot tugboat at 7 a.m. and by 7:30 a.m. it had broken the water's surface. Authorities boarded it around 9 a.m. and shortly after 11 a.m. a Westchester County police boat took Hernandez's body to shore.
Astorino said the salvage operation was difficult and dangerous work. New Jersey-based Donjon Marine's Chesapeake 1000 crane raised the tugboat to the surface using slings. Donjon's Witte 1406 barge will carry the tugboat away.
Officials were still conducting an environmental remediation, as well. Water was being pumped out of the boat to ensure its stability and capture any remaining fuel.
Coast Guard Capt. Mike Day said: "Salvage is never easy. It's always complex. But this one seems to be, so far, moving at a good pace."
Day said investigators were looking for the boat's log book, which should have routine entries made in it by the crew. They were also searching for the GPS device, which will reveal the boat's speed and path in the water. Officials would then be able to analyze the currents and tides to help piece together what happened.
Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe said of the tug, "It will go to a discrete location so that we can continue the investigation, the physical investigation, and then after that it's up to the owners as to what happens to it."
The Specialist had been sitting about 40 feet below the surface near the Tappan Zee Bridge.
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The Specialist was one of three tugboats pulling a barge from Albany to New Jersey at the time of impact.
Also killed in the crash were Paul Amon, 63, of Bayville, New Jersey, and Timothy Conklin, 29, of Westbury, Long Island.
In a statement released through Westchester County police, Hernandez's family said: "“We would like to thank everyone in the Westchester County Police Department for their support and accommodations today. It has been a very difficult two weeks for the family.
"We appreciate everyone who has expressed their concern and helped to bring our family member back home. Even though we know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, we are comforted to know that we can now put his body to rest.”
