Washington State Ferry runs aground near Bremerton

On Saturday afternoon, a Washington State ferry ran aground south of Bainbridge Island, just across from Seattle’s Puget Sound. Almost 600 passengers were on board the ship and it took more than five hours to disembark safely.

Around 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the Walla Walla ferry ran aground in the Rich Passage, a narrow and winding waterway on the route from Seattle to Bremerton. No casualties or flooding were reported.

Passengers told local media that the lights were flickering and that the ship appeared to lose power before hitting the ground. The crew alerted everyone on board to the impending accident and began preparing them for an emergency scenario.

“They made (an) announcement that everyone has to come to the passenger deck, we’ve lost steering (and drive), everyone has to prepare for impact, so we all sat down and were a little worried,” said passenger Matt Holyoak KOMO News after the accident.

The smaller ferries Waterman and Commander, provided by Kitsap Transit, diverted to the crime scene and were able to pull up alongside the Walla Walla, allowing passengers to transfer directly on board. The last passengers disembarked around 10:00 p.m. and were all safely taken to Bremerton.

Images courtesy of USCG

The Walla Walla was safely refloated with the help of a tug at high tide on Saturday evening and brought to Bremerton without further incident. Passengers with cars aboard the Walla Walla were able to collect their vehicles from the pier in Bremerton on Sunday morning.

Initial indications are that the Walla Walla suffered a generator failure while underway, according to Washington State Ferries. An official investigation into the cause of the accident is underway. The Issaquah Ferry is temporarily taking over Walla Walla’s route while the refloated ferry is surveyed and repaired.

Walla Walla is a WSF jumbo class ferry built in 1973 and refurbished in 2005. She features a diesel-electric propulsion system powered by four independent diesel generators.

The ferry had run aground before: In 1981, Walla Walla ran aground on a beach at Wing Point, Bainbridge Island, about three miles northeast of Saturday’s grounding.

The last major WSF ferry propulsion accident occurred in 2014 when the Tacoma ferry suffered a catastrophic electrical system failure in Bainbridge’s Eagle Harbor. The Tacoma was able to drop anchor and avoid a stranding.

Source: News Network