By Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) -One person was killed and several injured after a ferry carrying 45 passengers in Clearwater, Florida was struck by a boat which then fled the scene, local officials said.
The Clearwater Fire Department declared the crash on Sunday evening a "mass casualty incident" because of the number of people injured.
Police and fire services were at the scene and six patients "were declared as trauma alerts," with two seriously wounded being transported by helicopter to hospitals, the City of Clearwater said in a post on X.
The boat that fled the scene near the city’s Memorial Causeway Bridge had been identified by another law enforcement agency, and an investigation was underway, it added.
"All of the injuries are from the ferry. The boat that struck the ferry fled the scene," Clearwater Police Department said on social media.
"The ferry came to rest on a sandbar just south of the Memorial Causeway Bridge. All patients and passengers have been removed," police added.
The accident happened at the end of the 17-day Sugar Sand Festival on Sunday night and many people were taking the ferry back and forth for the festival, according to media reports.
An ABC News affiliate cited Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector as saying the boat that collided with the ferry was privately owned.