MANHATTAN — The Staten Island Ferry made a "hard landing" Thursday afternoon, steaming into the Whitehall Terminal with engine problems and colliding with the dock, witnesses said.
"I thought it was an earthquake," Hector Sanchez, 58, of East New York, said. "People were scared."
An agency spokesman refused to say exactly what happened, but said the problem stemmed from a power issue with the Guy V. Molinari ferry. He said that there were no injuries and there was no damage to the vessel.
"Due to a mechanical issue, the Staten Island Ferry will be operating on a modified schedule during the PM rush hour today," tweeted the city Department of Transportation, which operates the ferry.
The fire department said that they got the call about the crash about 3:10 p.m., about an hour after it happened. They said they were at the scene in Battery Park, but they did not take anyone to the hospital..
"They did not make a single announcement [about the crash]," Sanchez said. "People coming out of the ferry seemed shaken up."
