NYC boat tragedy survivor blames captain as mother and baby die in deadly capsizing

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: A survivor of the deadly New York Harbor boat tragedy has recalled the terrifying moments before a mother and her 5-month-old daughter died after their overloaded vessel suddenly capsized.

Jorge Ortiz, who survived the disaster with his wife, Johana Cespedes, said the boat was carrying 14 people despite having a listed capacity of no more than 10. He also accused captain Manuel Hernandez of telling passengers they did not need life jackets.

The 58-year-old survivor said he immediately realized something was seriously wrong when the boat suddenly went down from the front.

Survivor recalls deadly New York Harbor boat crash

Ortiz said the trip had started normally, with the group stopping at a restaurant in New Jersey before cruising around Liberty Island.

The passengers were celebrating the birthday of Paul Rivera, whom Ortiz's wife knew through their local church.

However, Ortiz said he had already felt uneasy about the trip after passengers were forced to board the boat from rocks near Randall's Island instead of using a proper dock.

“It was weird that we were getting on from the side of Randall’s Island off a rock,” Ortiz recalled. “I’m like, if this is a boat that we’re paying for … the guy is charging money to take us, why are we getting on through rocks?”

He said everything changed as the group headed back.

“I was actually looking at the baby with the mother,” Ortiz said, recalling seeing Sara Sanchez, 27, with her daughter, Antonella Garcia. “And that’s when everything, the boat just went down from the front.”

The vessel then flipped rapidly, throwing everyone into the dark water.

“And then, boom, it flipped upside down quickly,” Ortiz said. “The water came in, and then it just slammed down first, flipped it completely, completely, quickly.”

Search intensified for Sara Sanchez and her baby

Once the passengers were in the water, panic took over. Ortiz said most of them were not wearing life jackets, and his first instinct was to look for his wife. Then the group realized someone was missing.

“Everybody’s going, ‘Where’s the baby?’” Ortiz remembered.

He tried to reach underneath the overturned boat but could not get to the bottom. The passengers later learned that Antonella was trapped beneath the vessel.

Ortiz said several survivors searched desperately for Sanchez and her daughter but were unable to save them. The deaths of the mother and baby have left the survivor questioning how the tragedy unfolded.

“It was too much weight… He should’ve known better,” Ortiz said of Hernandez. “And then that little girl shouldn’t have been in the boat.”

Captain Manuel Hernandez faces federal charges

Ortiz also recalled seeing Hernandez on top of the overturned boat after the passengers had fallen into the water.

“When I looked, he was over there on the top, sitting in the middle of the boat,” Ortiz said. “It was weird. I even told my wife.”

The survivors were eventually rescued by another party boat before the NYPD Harbor Unit and several US Coast Guard vessels arrived and brought everyone to safety.

Hernandez, 46, was charged with more than a dozen counts of reckless endangerment following the incident.

He was also awaiting arraignment on more serious federal charges of misconduct and neglect resulting in death.

The Coast Guard is investigating whether Hernandez was operating an illegal charter service without the required certification and whether he failed to meet mandatory safety requirements.