Cuomo: Tugboat crash at TZB 'tragic accident'

A tugboat pulling a crane from Albany to Jersey City, New Jersey, collided in the early morning darkness Saturday with a construction barge under the Tappan Zee Bridge, killing at least one person.

Two others crew members remain missing and are presumed dead. The victim who was recovered was identified as Paul Amon, 63, of Bayville, New Jersey.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the 5:15 a.m. crash  a "tragic accident" during an afternoon visit to South Nyack where he took a boat tour of the scene.

"You have three people who left for work and who aren’t going to come home," he said.

An investigation by multiple agencies, including the state police and U.S. Coast Guard, will try to determine what led to the crash — the second deadly wreck involving a barge connected with the Tappan Zee Bridge construction.

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Questions about lighting on the constructions barges were raised following a crash in July, 2013 that killed a Piermont bride-to-be and her fiance's best man.

Cuomo said that the barge struck by the tugboat Saturday was well lit.

"We have taken many, many precautions to make sure everything is very well illuminated," he told The Journal News after he and his daughter, Michaela, toured the crash site by boat. "I don't think there's any question about the lighting."

Police boats and helicopters continued to search the Hudson River for the two missing crew members. But divers were unable to search underwater because tides were too dangerous, according to Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino.

Amon was pulled from the 40-degree water and taken to the Westchester side of the river, where he was pronounced dead soon after the crash.

Investigators did not release the identities of the two missing crew members, but Cuomo said one of them was a 29-year-old man.

A family — two men and two women — carrying flowers appeared briefly near where police were gathered late Saturday morning before authorities led them away.

The 84-foot tugboat Specialist sank and is resting 40 feet under the Hudson River. It is leaking 5,000 gallons of fuel. The state Department of Environmental Conservation is at the scene.

Cuomo said that a fuel sheen was visible along with the odor of diesel fuel.

Containment booms to collect the fuel were set up.

Experts were assessing the condition and location of the sunken tug.

"We'll pull it up when it's safe," Astorino said in a late morning press briefing in Tarrytown near the river.

The tugboat Specialist was one of three in formation as it went under the bridge. The two other tugboats, Realist and Trevor, were not involved in the crash.

Their crew members were not injured. They came to the assistance of the Specialist but were unable to help the crew, Astorino said.

There were 13 construction workers on the barge when it was struck by the tugboat. They saw that a collision was imminent and were able to brace themselves so none were injured, Cuomo said.

"We are lucky that there were no injuries of the 13 people who were on that Tappan Zee barge, but this is a loss of life and it is tragic and our hearts go out to the families who had to hear that news today," he said.

The tug Specialist is owned by Specialist LLC of Montauk. It was built in 1956 by Parker Brothers and Co.

“It was a staunch, seaworthy tug,” said James Mercante, a New York City maritime attorney representing Specialist LLC. "The crew were knowledgeable and experienced mariners."

Workers were on the barge, part of the $4 billion project to rebuild the Tappan Zee Bridge. Construction continued throughout the day Saturday.

Carla Julian, a  spokeswoman for Tappan Zee Constructors, a consortium of companies building the bridge, said the company is cooperating with investigators.

"Tappan Zee Constructors, LLC (TZC) is aware that a tugboat unrelated to the project struck one of our crane barges in the main channel as it was moving south early this morning, causing the tug to fully submerge," she said in a statement." TZC is cooperating with local responders as the investigation and the recovery efforts continue."

Astorino said later in the day that divers were expected to search in and around the tugboat sometime around 5:30 p.m. when “they feel the conditions are the best."

However, Mercante, the maritime attorney, said late Saturday night that dive crews were unable to enter the Hudson River due to dangerous conditions.

"Because of the strong and swift currents under the bridge, they (the divers) were not able to get close enough to the tug to make any headway in or near the tug," Mercante said.

Salvage of the tugboat is the responsibility of the owner, Specialist LLC of Montauk. George Longworth, Westchester County public safety commissioner, called the sunken tugboat a “navigational hazard in the river."

Mercante said after the other two crew members are located, the tugboat could be removed from the water within a day or so. He added that the collision was "an anomaly."

"This is the type of thing that certainly doesn't happen often," Mercante said. "This company has not had an experience like this in its history."

Officials did not speculate on the speed of the tugboat at the time of the crash.

The crash has similarities to a July, 2013 wreck that killed Lindsey Stewart, 30, of Piermont and her fiance’s best man, Mark Lennon, 30. The boat they and other wedding party members were on crashed into a Tappan Zee Bridge construction barge. Two others, including the groom, were injured.

Rockland County prosecutors charged that the driver of the boat, Jojo John of Nyack, was drunk, with a blood-alcohol level was at 0.15 percent.

But John’s lawyers said insufficient lighting on the barges was the problem, and claimed that John and his five passengers couldn’t see three barges moored together near the bridge. His lawyers also contended that the state and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not inform boaters the barges were there.

"This brings back bad memories," New City attorney Michael Bongiorno, who represented John, said of the tugboat crash "I knew this was going to happen."

He said that even though John, who was sentenced under a plea deal to two years in the Rockland County jail, was drunk, the barge lighting was still a factor.

The estates of Stewart and Lennon filed a lawsuit against the company building the replacement Tappan Zee Bridge. Brian Bond, whose bride-to-be was killed in the crash, also filed a lawsuit.

The crash Saturday underscores the dangers of building a massive bridge in the middle of a river, said Rockland County Executive Ed Day .

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and the brave first responders involved in the difficult rescue and recovery. As work on the new span continues, we must be assured that an incident like this never happens again."

Staff writer Michael Donofrio contributed information for this report.

Twitter: @JaneLernerNY