A survivor of a deadly charter boat capsize in New York Harbor, which resulted in the deaths of a mother and her infant daughter, has come forward with harrowing details, criticizing the captain for allegedly overloading the vessel and not providing life jackets.
Jorge Ortiz, who was aboard the 21-foot Yamaha motorboat when it capsized Saturday night, told The Post that the captain, Manuel Hernandez, told passengers they did not need life jackets. Ortiz stated that after the 14 passengers plunged into the dark water, Hernandez did not assist in the rescue efforts, remaining on the overturned boat.
"When I looked, he was over there on the top, sitting in the middle of the boat," Ortiz recalled.
Ortiz, 58, said the boat, chartered for a birthday celebration, was carrying 14 people, exceeding its listed capacity of 10. "It was too much weight… He should’ve known better," he said, adding that the infant should not have been on the boat.
He also expressed apprehension about the excursion from the outset, noting that passengers had to board the boat from rocks near Randall's Island instead of a proper dock. "It was weird that we were getting on from the side of Randall’s Island off a rock," Ortiz said. "I’m like, if this is a boat that we’re paying for … the guy is charging money to to take us, why are we getting on through rocks?"
Ortiz described the moments leading up to the capsizing. Sara Sanchez, 27, was taking a photo of her 5-month-old daughter, Antonella Garcia, with the Statue of Liberty in the background when the boat suddenly took on water from the front. "I was actually looking at the baby with the mother," he said. "And that’s when everything, the boat just went down from the front. And when the water started coming in, that’s the last thing I saw. And then, boom, it flipped upside down quickly. It flipped front to back. The water came in, and then it just slammed down first, flipped it completely, completely, quickly."
Panic ensued as passengers realized most were not wearing life jackets. Ortiz immediately searched for his wife, Johana Cespedes, who also survived. "Everybody’s going, ‘Where’s the baby?’" he remembered. "So, I tried to swim a little bit towards the bottom, but I couldn’t reach the bottom of the boat."
It was later discovered that Sanchez and her daughter were trapped beneath the boat. Ortiz reiterated that Hernandez remained on the hull and offered no assistance.
Survivors were eventually rescued by another boat and later by the NYPD Harbor Patrol and U.S. Coast Guard vessels.
Hernandez, 46, faces over a dozen counts of reckless endangerment and is awaiting arraignment on more serious federal charges, including misconduct and neglect resulting in death. The Coast Guard is investigating whether Hernandez was operating an illegal charter service without the necessary certifications and safety equipment.
