3 killed in Australia ferry collision

A passenger ferry plowed into a pleasure boat under Sydney's iconic Harbour Bridge, killing at least three people, including two professional figure skating judges, officials said Thursday.

The ferry shattered the 32-feet-long wooden cruiser and pitched its passengers into the water in the collision, which occurred about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday, witnesses and police said.

A 14-year-old was missing and eight others were injured, officials said.

"The boat basically just disintegrated," said witness Clive Marshall, who was on another ferry passing nearby. "There were a couple of people hanging onto the wreckage. We had people in the water and bits of boat and the boat sinking and people screaming for their missing friends."

Most of the 12 passengers on board the smaller boat were members of Australia's ice skating community, in Sydney to participate in a weeklong seminar by U.S. figure skating coach Kathy Casey.

Australian figure skating judges Alan Blinn and Simone Moore, both of whom worked at international events, were killed, according to Michael Pasfield, vice president of the Australian Professional Skating Association.

The identity of the third victim was not immediately released.

Police divers also were searching for 14-year-old Queensland state skater Morgan Innes, who was thrown from the pleasure cruiser and is feared dead, Pasfield and police said.

Former Australian Olympic figure skater Liz Cain, who competed for Australia at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, had a leg partially amputated in the accident.

Dozens of ferries and hundreds of other boats ply Sydney harbor every day, including navy vessels, cruise liners and container ships. Collisions occur periodically, occasionally causing deaths.

The deadliest crash was in 1927, when a mail steamer collided with a ferry, sinking the ferry and killing 40 people.