The 24-foot Yamaha AR240, named Stimulus Money, that Lindelia Vasquez, 50, chartered to take her relatives on a tour of New York Harbor Tuesday afternoon had a maximum capacity of 12, or about 2,698 pounds, according to with the specifications. listed in Hardcore Marine. Hours after the initial incident, which killed Vasquez and her 7-year-old relative Julian Vasquez, police officials said at a news conference that only 12 people were on board. But late on Wednesday, officers revealed there were at least 13 on board, proving it was overloaded. While police sources said there was no “immediate evidence of criminality” in the tragedy, violating a vessel’s tonnage restrictions could land the charter company, owner or operator of the vessel in hot water, the maritime safety lawyer and advocate said. Jeffrey Goodman at The Post. “There are responsibilities for the charter company, for the shipowner and the operator. Who did what wrong here, I can’t say,” said Goodman, an associate attorney with Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky who has represented victims from a series of boating tragedies, including the 2012 sinking of a pleasure boat in Oyster Bay that killed three children. . “A lot of times you’ll find boat operators who will take the view, ‘It’s a lot of little kids so it’s okay,’ which is completely inconsistent with the regulations… Kids versus adults don’t change the safety margin when it comes to overloading.” Family and friends (most wrapped in white sheets) are involved in a boating accident on the Hudson River after a boating accident. Matthew McDermott While police sources said there was “no immediate evidence of criminality” in the tragedy, breaching a vessel’s tonnage restrictions could land the charter company, owner or operator of the vessel in hot water. (Kevin C. Downs for The New YorkLindelia Vasquez and her 7-year-old relative Julian Vasquez was killed in the boating incident Lindelia Vasquez/Facebook It was not immediately clear how many children were aboard the Stimulus Money, but there was at least one. U.S. Coast Guard officials previously told The Post that a number of accidents can lead to a boat capsize, including excessive speed, negligent operation and mechanical failures, but Goodman said it’s mostly caused by weight issues, wave issues and the more often than not, a combination of the two. “If a boat capsizes on its side, it’s indicative of either how the weight was distributed on that boat or how the waves hit that boat,” Goodman said. The overturned boat in the Hudson River near Pier 86 on West 46th Street. (Kevin C. Downs for New York The National Weather Service had a small craft advisory in effect at the time of the accident, reporting 15 mph winds and 2-foot waves. Henry Kaden via Storyful “It would be some combination of either the weight on the boat and how it’s distributed or the waves hitting the boat, whether it’s other people’s wakes or the weather.” Police sources initially suspected that the wake of a passing ferry caused it to capsize, but a NY Waterways spokesman vehemently denied that was possible – and said the nearest ferry was four minutes away from the tragedy when it happened. “This is a very long distance from which there could be no visible wake,” claimed spokesman Wiley Norvell. Police sources initially suspected that the wake of a passing ferry caused it to capsize, but a NY Waterways spokesman vehemently denied this. Matthew McDermott The National Weather Service had a small craft advisory in effect at the time of the accident, citing 15 mph winds and 2-foot waves, but those conditions were reported near the Verrazzano Bridge off the coast of Staten Island, closer to the ocean . Buoys recording tides, currents and winds closer to the tragedy showed calmer conditions, according to the USCG. The Post was unable to reach the boat’s owner, who was traveling behind the boat on a jet ski at the time of the tragedy. When NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced at a news conference after the incident that two people had died in the crash, the owner of the boat was in the crowd listening and was captured falling to his knees, crying in grief.
