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A SPEEDBOAT may have been playing chicken with a ferry before the two vessels collided on the Parramatta River yesterday leaving one woman with a broken neck and others with serious head and chest injuries.
Two passengers on the speedboat were thrown into the water near Meadowbank wharf while four others remained trapped inside after it became wedged under the hull of the Fantasea Spirit catamaran, which had been chartered by Sydney Ferries to augment passenger services.
A female police officer swam under the hull of the ferry to comfort the four trapped people. The woman is believed to have calmed the injured passengers before the ferry was moved to the Blaxland Road boat ramp.
"The speedboat had heaps of people in it"
Those inside the trapped speedboat were then freed and treated by paramedics.
All the passengers were in a stable condition in hospital last night, except one who had been discharged.
No one on the speedboat was wearing a lifejacket, police said. It was not known whether alcohol was a factor.
It was initially difficult to determine how many people were on the speedboat as the group did not speak English, Inspector Geoff McAllister from the NSW Fire Brigade said. ''At first all we could see were legs sticking out of the boat,'' he said.
The crash between the eastbound ferry and the speedboat occurred about 100 metres from the Meadowbank wharf about 4.35pm. Both vessels have been seized for forensic examination.
Inspector Jim Szabo of Eastwood Local Area Command said the ferry had just left the wharf.
Three of those from the speedboat were taken to Westmead Hospital and three to Royal North Shore Hospital. No one was injured on the ferry.
Rima Italui and her husband had taken their two children to Anderson Park to play and were about to
begin fishing when they saw the two vessels heading for each other.
''We saw that the speedboat had heaps of people in it and seemed to be speeding; it wasn't going
slow,'' Mrs Italui said. ''For a second we thought they were just mucking around with the ferry and were going to break off [its course] at the last minute.''
She watched in horror as the speedboat disappeared under the hull of the ferry.
Inspector Szabo said several witnesses would be interviewed.
- with Paul Tatnell
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