Captain charged with DWI after boat catches fire, injuring over 20 people near City Island
CITY ISLAND, The Bronx (WABC) -- The captain of a boat that caught fire and injured nearly two dozen people on Saturday night has been arrested after allegedly driving the vessel while intoxicated.
Joshua Brito, 33, of the Bronx is charged with DWI and reckless endangerment in connection to the boat fire.
New Citizen app video shows a closer view of the fire as a group of people wearing all white scrambling to gather towards the front of the boat as flames shot out from the back. Other video obtained by Eyewitness News shows dark smoke billowing from the boat from a distance.
Officials say the incident happened just after 8 p.m. near the east end of Hart Island when Marine 4, an FDNY vessel, was doing a routine patrol in the area and spotted the boat on fire in the Long Island Sound.
According to the FDNY, three people were pulled out of the water by marine units. Nineteen others managed to swim to shore on Hart Island, where they were later transported by first responders to nearby City Island for further evaluation.
At least 22 people were injured as a result of the boat fire, with one person in critical condition at the hospital, officials say.
FDNY Assistant Chief Mike Meyers was on scene Saturday night providing insight into the water rescue.
"The boat in order to fit that many people on it had to be a pretty decent size boat. Marine 4 did notice them earlier in the evening and they said there was a lot of people on that boat," Meyers said. "We have to get those patients from the water or the boat onto the land and coordinate the land units and EMS units as to where the marine boats are going to be bringing them, so it's an incredibly complex operation."
Authorities are now working to determine the cause of the fire.
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