Tugboat crash: Divers suspend search

Authorities will continue to scan the surface of the Hudson River on Monday in hopes of finding the third man who was on the tugboat that sank Saturday.

Police divers have stopped searching the Specialist, an 84-foot-long tugboat that is under 40 feet of water after crashing into a barge at the Tappan Zee Bridge construction site early Saturday morning. Commercial divers are expected to assess the wreckage, though, as the boat's owner, Specialist LLC of Montauk, devises a plan to raise the sunken ship.

Specialist was one of three tugboats pulling a crane from Albany to New Jersey in the early-morning darkness.

Two bodies were recovered from the river over the weekend. Paul Amon, 63, of Bayville, New Jersey, was pulled from the 40-degree water Saturday. On Sunday morning divers found Timothy Conklin, 29, of Westbury, Long Island, inside the boat.

Harry Hernandez, 56, of Staten Island is still missing and presumed dead. Police will continue to search the river's surface this morning by boat and helicopter.

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"The rescue and recovery operation has concluded," Kieran O'Leary, a Westchester County police spokesman, said Sunday. "It's now moving from a recovery phase to a salvage phase."

By 6 p.m. Sunday, authorities had called off their divers, saying the damage was too extensive for them to safely maneuver around the wreckage.

"Obviously the conditions are very difficult. The visibility is very poor," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday at a press conference in Tarrytown. "The ship itself is damaged, which makes the investigation of the interior more problematic. The visibility is estimated to be six inches, so much of the diving involved is actually done by feel."

Specialist LLC is now starting the process of figuring out how to raise the boat from the riverbed, its lawyer, James Mercante, said Monday morning.

"It's all being assessed now," he said.

Cuomo said Conklin's family is in shock. "Yesterday we were chatting. They were hoping against hope ... for a different outcome," Cuomo said Sunday.

Conklin "called one of his brothers a couple of days ago and was concerned about this voyage because the currents were very, very strong," Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said at a separate press conference on the Tarrytown waterfront Sunday. Astorino said Conklin was survived by his father, two brothers and his longtime girlfriend.

"Obviously this is a moment of sadness for them," he said, flanked by Coast Guard Lt. Mark Magrino and Westchester County Public Safety Commissioner George Longworth.

Cuomo was joined in Tarrytown on Sunday by Superintendent of State Police Joseph D’Amico, state Department of Homeland Security Commissioner John Melville and Lt. Meg Filmer from the DEC Police.

The vessel is estimated to have had about 5,000 gallons of fuel oil on board. Aerial reconnaissance shows a sheen on the Hudson River, which is being contained, the governor said.

"In terms of the spill," Cuomo said, "we believe the tug is still leaking diesel fuel oil."

Cuomo said a private contractor is on site working to absorb that fuel oil. He explained that special pads absorb the oil from the top of the water, and booms keep the fuel oil from creating further damage.

"They have about 3,000 feet of boom put across the river at Croton, and about 9,000 feet near Piermont," Cuomo said. "It appears from observation from a helicopter that the sheen now is about south to the Piermont Point and is across the river. So it has gone somewhat further south from yesterday and from end to end across the river."

O'Leary said the tugboat's owner Specialist LLC of of Montauk will hire a commercial dive team to assess the damage and develop a formal salvage plan to remove the vessel from the bottom of the river. The salvage won't begin until the plan has Coast Guard approval, he said, adding that no timetable for the salvage has been determined.

Cuomo called the 5:15 a.m. crash  a "tragic accident" during a Saturday 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.

State Police divers began searching for the missing divers about 12 hours after the crash. Earlier Saturday, they used sonar equipment to determine the exact location of the sunken tug to assess whether it was safe to send divers.

Authorities said three tugboats were pushing a barge from Albany to Jersey City, New Jersey, when one of the three – situated on the right side as it headed south – hit a stationary barge that was part of the Tappan Zee Bridge construction project.

A tugboat on the left side of the barge that was being pushed, as well as one that was pushing the barge from the rear, were not involved in the accident.

The Specialist reportedly made radio transmissions that said, "We are too close. We have to move left," Cuomo said. "But they couldn't move in time and sometimes it's just that. Just an accident."

Cuomo said in a statement that 21 workers were on the bridge construction barge that was hit, but they were not injured.

The accident occurred near the center of the existing Tappan Zee Bridge, and the Specialist sank in about 40 feet of water within minutes, authorities said.

"Sometimes you wonder about lessons," Cuomo said Sunday. "Sometimes it’s just a pure accident and that’s what this occurs to be, just a pure accident."

"The barge was stationary. The tugboat crew knew they were too close ... They simply couldn't move in time."

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The Associated Press and The Journal News/lohud reporters Jane Lerner and Richard Liebson contributed to this report.