Search and rescue police boat sinks after officer pulls hatch

A civilian instructor ordered a sergeant to open the hatch despite it being under water

Police in Canada may have slept in their cruisers and smuggled contraband cheese across the border, but they haven't sank one of their own boats by pulling a plug.

A Port Authority of New York & New Jersey patrol boat, which was worth about $500,000, sank off the coast of New York City earlier this month. The New York Post initially reported a Port Authority source speculated it hit a jetty, but said it was important to train in the treacherous conditions. Now the Post is reporting the boat sank because an officer opened a hatch that was below the waterline. The hatch is only supposed to be opened when the ship is in dry dock. The 11-metre long ship took on water sank rather quickly.

"It was like opening a window during a carwash," said one PA insider to the Post.

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At the time of the sinking, there were three civilian instructors from Ocean Rescue Systems aboard. They were hired to conduct the exercises.

One of the engines began to vibrate and someone thought a piece of driftwood or a rope had got in the engine. One of the civilian instructors told a sergeant to open a hatch and look at the engine. The sergeant took the order, opened the hatch and the boat went down.

The boat was carrying 11 people at the time, although seven of them were already in the water as part of a rescue certification. Some of the cops and civilian trainers swam the 300 metres to shore, some scrambled into life rafts, and some were fished out by the marine unit of the FDNY. The Post reported two weeks ago two or three people were hospitalized.

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The boat was used for rescue exercises in case a plane goes down or a maritime terror attack was launched on JFK Airport. It has more than half a million dollars worth of firefighting pumps, hoses, nozzles, radio, radar, GPS gear, scuba gear and other devices on board. It also has enough life rafts to carry up to 600 people.

This isn't the first problem for the Port Authority Police Department this year. Last month, a jet skier breached a $100 million security system at JFK after falling off his jet ski and being forced to swim to the nearest shore.

That nearest shore just so happened to be the airport and the man wearing a bright yellow life jacket climbed the 2.5-metre barbed-wire fence, walked across the runways and into the terminal undetected by security cameras.

As for the sunken ship, it was raised the day after it sank to see if any of the equipment could still be used. The Port Authority has refused to identify the sergeant, but he or she is facing disciplinary action.