New York Ferry Bursts Into Flames, 37 People Rescued: 'It Was So Scary'

“I was fairly certain we were going to have to jump into the river," a passenger said

More than two dozen people were rescued from a ferry they were traveling on that caught fire on Tuesday, Aug. 27 in New Jersey.

In a video circulating on social media, passengers can be seen hopping from a smoke-filled New York Waterway public ferry to another boat as rescuers quickly try to help them to safety.

According to the Associated Press and SWNS, 37 people were rescued after the ferry caught fire on the Hudson River just before 5 p.m. local time on Tuesday.

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PEOPLE reached out to New York Waterway and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey but did not immediately receive a response.

Per the outlets, a witness who happened to be on a nearby boat said he saw the flames and the ferry began to "shake."

The unidentified individual sailed closer to the boat to assess the situation when another boat helped passengers to safety. The evacuation reportedly took around 10 minutes, and the ferry that caught fire was towed away.

Related: 5 People Injured and Nearly 700 Passengers Evacuated After Fire Breaks Out on Staten Island Ferry

"I was on a boat with a few colleagues cruising along the river. I saw the smoke coming from the boat — it was so scary," another passerby who filmed the scene said. "The water was very choppy and there were a lot of boats passing which made the situation worse."

Cary Broder, who takes the ferry to save an hour on his commute to work, told New York's Pix 11 he was on the vessel when the fire began.

“I looked behind me, and there were orange flames shooting out of the back of the boat,” he told the news station. “Fortunately, everybody really remained calm. Like, people were obviously scared.”

Broder added, “I was fairly certain we were going to have to jump into the river, actually.”

Despite the incident, he said he will continue to use the NY Waterway ferry in the future.

Related: Boat Captain Found Guilty of Manslaughter Over Calif. Fire that Killed 34

“I was a little bit panicked, you know, and there were a bunch of people gathered on there. I was just trying to get off the boat onto the other one, and then it wasn’t until afterward I realized oh, my bike’s still on there,” Broder said.

No injuries were reported, and it is not immediately clear how the fire started, reports ABC 7 NY.

The ferry was on the Paulus Hook to Pier 11 line and was heading to Paulus Hook and Liberty Harbor in New Jersey at the time of the incident, NBC New York reports. The outlet added that the investigation is ongoing.

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