The first ferries of the day to Ward Island and Hanlan’s Point left at 7am on Sunday.
In a series of tweets, Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation (PFR) said that due to the incident, ferry service between the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal and Toronto Island will operate on a “modified schedule” for the next few weeks.
The city is also advising commuters to “expect much longer than usual wait times for the remainder of the summer.”
“Until further notice, there will be only three ferries operating between the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal and Toronto Island – two passenger-only ferries and one vehicle/passenger ferry. Unnecessary vehicle crossings are discouraged,” Toronto PFR tweeted .
As a result of the Saturday docking incident, ferry service between the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal and Toronto Island will operate on a modified schedule and passengers can expect significantly longer wait times than usual for the remainder of the summer.
— City of Toronto PFR (@TorontoPFR) August 21, 2022
The incident happened just after 5pm yesterday and injured 12 people, all with minor injuries. Two children and three adults were taken to hospital for treatment. Hypocrite. Victoria Pfuetzner, of Toronto Paramedic Services, said most of the injuries were to the knee.
“There was a collision with the vessel as it docked and this caused several passengers to fall forward resulting in injuries,” Toronto police said. Lori Cranenburg told reporters at the scene.
He said there were 912 passengers and six crew members on board at the time of the incident. The ship involved is the Sam McBride.
Toronto Fire Chief Steve Buckingham said 10 of their appliances, including two fire boats, responded to the incident to initially help evacuate passengers and triage injured people.
The cause of the crash is unknown.
The Department of Labor and the Department of Transportation were notified.
Following the incident, the City of Toronto, which operates the island ferries, announced that ferry services would be reduced for the rest of the night.
“City staff will conduct a full investigation and, prior to resuming full operations, will require an inspector to sign off on appropriate procedures and safety measures,” a City of Toronto spokesperson said Saturday night.
All affected ticket holders were refunded and ticket sales were suspended last night, they said.
Toronto Mayor John Tory thanked emergency responders and offered his best wishes to those injured.
Tory also said he is “looking forward to understanding exactly how this happened and will support city staff in taking any actions to prevent this from happening again.”
Thank you to @TorontoMedics, @Toronto_Fire and @TorontoPolice for responding to the Toronto Island ferry collision at the ferry terminal. I hope those who were taken to the hospital recover quickly.
— John Tory (@TorontosMayor) August 21, 2022
-with files by Bryann Aguilar