A boat captain was arrested after the vessel caught fire and injured more than 20 people near City Island in The Bronx over the weekend.
Joshua Brito, 33, was charged with driving while intoxicated and reckless endangerment following the incident that happened on Saturday at around 8 p.m. near the east end of Hart Island, according to WABC.
The 22 people on the boat were injured, including one person in critical condition.
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According to officials, Marine 4, a New York City Fire Department vessel, was doing a routine patrol in the area when the boat on fire was spotted in the Long Island Sound.
Marine units pulled three people from the water while 19 others swam to shore on Hart Island before they were transported by Coast Guard, police and fire department units to nearby City Island to receive further medical evaluation at a hospital.
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“Marine 4 gave a verbal for a boat fire and multiple people in the water to the Bronx dispatcher,” New York City Fire Department Assistant Chief Mike Meyers said in a statement. “At that point, the Bronx dispatcher had land units respond to come into City Island and begin to accept patients. Marine 4 grabbed three people out of the water. At that point, they transported them to one of the docks that was close by, where Engine 70 was waiting and EMS was waiting as well to begin CPR on the victims.”
“The other 19 folks swam to Hart Island,” he continued. “They were just off the east end of Hart Island, and then they were picked up by the NYPD Coast Guard and FDNY boats and transported back over to the docks at the Yacht Club on City Island.”
Authorities continue to investigate the cause of the fire.
“The boat, in order to fit that many people on it, had to be a pretty decent-sized boat,” Meyers told reporters at the scene on Saturday. “Marine 4 did notice them earlier in the evening and they said there was a lot of people on that boat.”
