CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
Chicago Fire Department officials said a tour boat has hit a dock on the Chicago River leaving at least nine passengers injured Monday evening.
"We were coming back and we could see that the boat was coming in pretty fast towards the docking area," passenger Diane Fleisher said. "I saw the wall coming!"
Fleisher said she was on that boat, they could see land in this area along the Chicago River near the Michigan Avenue bridge - when seconds later, the boat was crashing into that wall.
"I thought they had that under control - apparently not," Fleisher said. "We hit the cement and everybody fell forward."
An employee told FOX Chicago News that they were trying to dock the boat when workers believe the engine malfunctioned.
It was an equipment malfunction of some sort as they were coming around the dock," Wendella spokesman Thom Serafin said. "We don't know what happened to the engine."
The Fire Department responded about 5:45 p.m. near the 400 block of North Michigan Avenue, Fire Media Affairs spokeswoman Meg Ahlheim said.
An EMS Plan 1 response was called Monday evening, which sends five ambulances to the scene.
There were 150 people on the architectural tour aboard the Lila, Wendella's newest vessel. Nearly a dozen people were injured.
Seven people were taken to nearby hospitals with non life-threatening injuries.
"When they're coming in, some people are thinking we're getting ready to get off," Chicago Fire Department's Ken Wojecki said. "So they're standing - they're not sitting down - so you probably have some falls with some bruises."
The front end of the boat was damaged as well. The red paint was chipped, and onlookers along Michigan Avenue stopped long enough to ask what happened.
The Lila just started touring last Friday when it was christened. It was purchased from the company in Rhode Island and since then, company officials said it's made nearly a dozen tours up and down the Chicago River.
The company and the Coast Guard will be out on the water Monday night, trying to figure out what went wrong.
Boat tours on the Wendella vessel will be suspended until the Coast Guard says the Lila is safe enough for passengers.The company's executives are currently talking with the company that sold them the boat, to find out where they might have erred.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
Photo courtesy of @MsWZ via Twitter.
