(AP) -- NEW YORK (AP) - The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched a team to investigate an accident involving New York's famed Staten Island ferry.
The ferry malfunctioned this morning as it approached its Staten Island terminal and smashed into a pier with a jolt that tossed passengers to the deck and hurt as many as 37 people.
New York City's transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan says the accident appears to be the result of a mechanical failure. She says the ferry's throttle failed to engage as it prepared to dock and the crew was unable to use the engines to apply reverse thrust and slow down. The cause of the malfunction is still unknown. The ferry, carrying 252 passengers and 18 crew, was moving at about 5 miles per hour when it hit.
The Department of Transportation describes damage to the vessel and terminal and slip as minor.
The 310-foot-long Andrew J. Barberi has a history of accidents, including a 2003 wreck that killed 11 people. That accident was blamed on human error.
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