The attorney for one of the deceased crewmembers aboard the tugboat Specialist that sank last month in the Hudson River has released video of the sinking.
The 84’x26’x9’ 2,400-hp Specialist hit an anchored construction barge early on the morning of March 12 near New York’s Tappan Zee bridge, sinking quickly after the allision. Footage of the incident was captured by workers on a nearby barge and released this week by James Forde, the lawyer for Paul Amon, 62, who was piloting the tug at the time of the crash.
Amon was killed in the sinking along with crewmates Harry Hernandez, 56 and Timothy Conklin, 29.
"Paul Amon had an opportunity to save himself by jumping onto the construction barge prior to the sinking," Forde said in a statement to the Staten Island Advance. "Instead, he ran into danger by attempting to rescue Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Conklin who were about to be trapped in the vessel.”
The Specialist, operated by New York Marine Towing Inc., was one of three tugs moving a tower crane barge downriver when its starboard side hit the barge at the construction site of the new New York Thruway bridge. The Coast Guard is investigating the incident, and has said that a final report will take months.
