11th ferry victim presumed dead

NEW YORK -- Divers searched for an 11th person missing and presumed dead Thursday as a probe into the horrific crash of a Staten Island ferry focused on whether its pilot fell unconscious while crossing New York Harbor.\nIn addition to 10 confirmed deaths, a Staten Island woman was presumed dead on the morning after the city's worst mass transit accident in at least a generation, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.\nPolice divers were hunting for the woman's body in the water near the ferry docks off Staten Island, Kelly said.\nIn addition, 42 people were injured.\nEarlier, Mayor Michael Bloomberg had said three people were missing. Authorities said at late morning that they were still unsure whether the two others had been on the boat.\nWitnesses said the ferry, crossing the wind swept New York Harbor from lower Manhattan, never appeared to slow down as it approached Staten Island Wednesday afternoon. The boat struck a maintenance pier hundreds of feet from the slips where the ferries normally dock.\nThe pilot quickly bolted from the scene, went home and attempted suicide, a law enforcement source told The Associated Press. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said pilot Richard Smith slit his wrists and shot himself with a pellet gun.\nSmith, 55, was in critical condition and under police guard Thursday morning at St. Vincent's Hospital. Twenty-two victims also were taken there.\nA co-worker told authorities the pilot had been asleep, slumped over the controls, the source said.\nStaten Island councilman Michael McMahon said he was told at a briefing Thursday that Smith may have lost consciousness because of "health problems and medication."\n"By the time the other captain could get control of the ship, it was too late," McMahon said.