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Cruise ship crashes into St. Lawrence River lock, 17 injured

Julia Botero
/
WRVO News
The Saint Laurent during a stop in Clayton in May 2015.

A cruise ship crashed into a lock on the St. Lawrence River Thursday night, injuring 17 people. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the 286-foot Saint Laurent hit a wall in the Eisenhower Lock along the St. Lawrence in Massena, just after 9 p.m. Thursday.

There were 274 people aboard the ship at the time of the crash, according to the Coast Guard. The Watertown Daily Times reportsthat all on board were French nationals, and the ship was headed from Montreal to Toronto. According to the Times, all injuries were reported to be minor.

The lock was drained after the crash, and the ship was evacuated. By Friday morning, the injured passengers were being taken by school bus back to the ship, where passengers spent the night, according to WWNY-TV in Watertown.

The Saint Laurent is spending the summer on the St. Lawrence. The ship stopped in Clayton in May and was scheduled to make a total of nine stops in the village this summer. 

The Coast Guard reports that both doors of the lock are closed and the ship will remain in the lock until it can be moved to a different location. That means no other ship can pass through that lock on the St. Lawrence River.

Jason has served as WRVO's news director in some capacity since August 2017. As news director, Jason produces hourly newscasts, and helps direct local news coverage and special programming. Before that, Jason hosted Morning Edition on WRVO from 2009-2019. Jason came to WRVO in January of 2008 as a producer/reporter. Before that, he spent two years as an anchor/reporter at WSYR Radio in Syracuse.