VIDEO: Dozens Injured When NYC Party Yacht Slams into Pier

A yacht carrying nearly 400 passengers hit a pier on the Hudson River Saturday, leaving dozens of people hurt.

The incident happened just after 4:00 p.m. when the New York City yacht, named Timeless, was trying to dock, the New York Post reported.

Officials and sources told the outlet a line apparently broke and the vessel slammed into the pier on West 125th Street and Henry Hudson Parkways.

The occasion was Zytin King’s 69th birthday celebration. In describing the incident, she said, “Some people are coming down the stairs and the boat just ran into the dock. And so they fell, there was no support, nothing for them to grab onto. Some people fell inside of the boat. A lot of people were hurt really badly.”

Images show the boat and people onshore after getting off the vessel:

A friend of King’s, identified as Monica Hale, told CBS News, “We were told to go back inside but of course we don’t listen, and when the boat jerked, somebody said ‘Brace yourselves.’ Everybody went flying down or flying back.”

King said she has been doing a boat ride for her birthday for the past 25 years but nothing like this has ever happened before.

The Post said approximately 35 people suffered minor injuries during the crash and 23 of them were transported to local hospitals. The 352 people onboard were escorted off the vessel following the incident.

According to the party’s caterer, Delores Mitchell, the crash did not dampen their celebrations too much.

“I heard people going to the ambulance saying, we are hurt, but we had a good time,” she stated. King, who was relieved no one was seriously injured, apparently planned to move the celebration to Harlem where a DJ was waiting.

The U.S. Coast Guard will investigate the cause of the crash.

A witness who saw the incident unfold from a nearby park told the New York Daily News the captain was having trouble getting the yacht back into the dock.

Franz Robinson said, “He couldn’t get it close enough, and then he went…back out in the water. Then he came back again, and then the boat turned sideways, and then it just drifted into this boat right here. It banged into this dock right here, and the whole side outside of that boat is just messed up.”