BALTIMORE - Police divers searched the Baltimore harbor Sunday for the bodies of three people missing after a water taxi capsized with 25 people aboard. One person was killed and two others were critically injured. <br /><br />AP Photo <br /><br />Reuters <br /> Slideshow: Baltimore Water Taxi Capsizes <br /><br /> <br /> <br /><br />The 36-foot pontoon flipped over near the Inner Harbor Saturday during a sudden storm with wind gusts up to 50 mph. Water temperatures were in the low 40s, and police did not expect to find any more survivors. <br /><br />Search crews used sonar equipment and a dog trained to find bodies submerged in water early Sunday as they resumed a full search, Baltimore Fire Chief William Goodwin said. <br /><br />Goodwin said the storm caught the boat as it set off to cross the harbor from Fort McHenry to Fells Point. The boat, which was at full capacity, was equipped with life preservers, but passengers are not required to wear them. <br /><br />"No one on the craft had time to get their life preservers on," said Maj. Frederick Bealfeld of the Baltimore Police Department. <br /><br />Rescuers said they saw up to a dozen people climbing across the bottom of the craft after it flipped. <br /><br />"It was like the twilight zone. It was eerie how the weather just overtook the vessel," said Command Master Chief Melvin Johnson, who was among a group of Naval reservists training nearby when the boat overturned. <br /><br />"The wind just took it," Johnson said. <br /><br />The accident recalled the October 2003 crash of a Staten Island ferry that killed 10 people when it slammed into a pier, said Ellen Engleman-Conners, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board (news - web sites). <br /><br />"This is unfortunately all too similar to the issue with Staten Island, in which once again we have passengers that are crossing in essentially a small ferry," Engleman-Conners said. <br /><br />She said she was concerned about a trend relating to "passenger safety when we're crossing the water. ... It's something we're definitely reviewing." <br /><br />Petty Officer Edward Mendez said he watched wind gusts toss the vessel "like a little toy boat getting blown out of control." <br /><br />Johnson said reservists immediately began throwing on life jackets and raced to boats to help. <br /><br />By the time they reached the pontoon, it had been blown about two miles into the Patapsco River near the marine terminal in Dundalk, Goodwin said. <br /><br />Once reservists got close enough they lashed their own boat to the overturned craft and began pulling people to safety, he said. <br /><br />Twenty-two people were removed from the water, including one woman who died at a hospital. Two people were in critical condition. <br /><br />Of the 25 on board, 23 were passengers and two were crew members. Both crew members survived. <br /><br /> <br /><br />The agencies scaled back their search before midnight and stopped helicopter searches about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Goodwin said. They resumed early Sunday. <br /><br />Goodwin remarked on the coincidence that the reservists happened to see the accident. <br /><br />"Had no one been looking, this tragedy would have been far more tragic than it was," he said. <br /><br />"It's fortunate there was not a greater loss of life when you consider the force of the storm," said Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley. <br /><br />The NTSB (news - web sites) investigation could take up to a year, Engleman-Conners said. <br /><br />The Inner Harbor is one of the nation's oldest seaports, visited by millions of tourists each year who walk along brick promenades on the shore and frequent the many shops, seafood restaurants, museums and other attractions. <br /><br />Among the attractions are Fells Point, the world-renowned National Aquarium and Fort McHenry, best known for hoisting the flag that inspired the poem by Francis Scott Key that became the national anthem. <br /><br />The boat was part of a fleet of 11 Seaport Taxis operated by the Living Classroom Foundation, said the organization's president, James Bond. <br /><br />"She was ready for an inspection on Monday and in shape the way she should be," he said. <br /><br />Bond said in deference to the families of the victims, the company would not operate taxis on Sunday. The taxis transport about 250,000 people, mostly tourists, every year.
