3 missing in boating tragedy

BALTIMORE, Md. -- Divers searched the Baltimore, Md., harbor Sunday for the bodies of three people missing after a water taxi capsized with 25 people aboard. A woman was killed, and two others, including an 8-year-old girl, were critically injured.\nThe 36-foot pontoon flipped over near the Inner Harbor Saturday during a sudden storm with wind gusts up to 50 mph. Water temperatures were in the low 40s, and police did not expect to find any more survivors.\nThe missing victims were a man, a woman and a child, said Baltimore Fire Chief William Goodwin.\nSearch crews used sonar equipment and dogs trained to find bodies submerged in water early Sunday as they resumed a full search. Goodwin said the dogs may have detected something near where the boat sank, and searchers planned to check that area again before sending in divers.\nGoodwin said the storm caught the boat as it set off to cross the harbor from Fort McHenry to Fells Point. The boat, which was at full capacity, was equipped with life preservers, but passengers were not required to wear them.\n"No one on the craft had time to get their life preservers on," said Maj. Frederick Bealfeld of the Baltimore Police Department.\nRescuers said they saw up to a dozen people climbing across the bottom of the craft after it flipped.\n"It was like the twilight zone. It was eerie how the weather just overtook the vessel," said Command Master Chief Melvin Johnson, who was among a group of Naval reservists training nearby when the boat overturned.\nEllen Engleman-Conners, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the accident recalled the October 2003 crash of a Staten Island ferry that killed 10 people when it slammed into a pier.\n"This is unfortunately all too similar to the issue with Staten Island, in which, once again, we have passengers that are crossing in essentially a small ferry," Engleman-Conners said.\nShe said she was concerned about a trend relating to "passenger safety when we're crossing the water. ... It's something we're definitely reviewing."\nEngleman-Conners said investigators were focusing on interviewing witnesses and passengers. Capt. Francis Deppner, the boat's captain, was among those who talked with investigators, said Tracey Weinberg, a spokeswoman for the Living Classrooms Foundation, which operated the water taxi.\nPetty Officer Edward Mendez said he watched wind gusts toss the vessel "like a little toy boat getting blown out of control."\nJohnson said reservists immediately began throwing on life jackets and raced to boats to help. \nBy the time they reached the pontoon, it had been blown about two miles into the Patapsco River near the marine terminal in Dundalk, Goodwin said.\nOnce reservists got close enough, they lashed their own boat to the overturned craft and began pulling people to safety, he said.\nTwenty-two people were removed from the water, including one woman who died at a hospital. Seven remained hospitalized Sunday afternoon.\nPolice declined to identify any of the passengers, saying that 18 of the 25 people on board were from out of town and they wanted to give people a chance to tell their relatives what happened.\nMaj. Fred Bealefeld of the Baltimore Police Department said three of the people on board were from Puerto Rico. He said others were from Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia.\nOf the 25 on board, 23 were passengers and two were crew members. Both crew members survived.\nThe agencies scaled back their search before midnight and stopped helicopter searches about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Goodwin said. They resumed early Sunday.\n-- Associated Press writers Brian Witte and Foster Klug contributed to this report.