83 Rescued After Floating Restaurant Breaks Loose

[Jazzy]

COVINGTON, Ky. -- Firefighters rigged a precarious gangplank of ladders and ropes and safely rescued 83 people, including former Cincinnati Bengals star Cris Collinsworth, from a floating restaurant that broke free from a pier on the flood Ohio River, authorities say.



Covington Fire Department Capt. Chris Kiely said Jeff Ruby's Waterfront restaurant drifted about 85 to 100 yards down the fast, rain-swollen river during the late Friday evening dinner hour and the popular seafood eatery then came to a stop beside a tall bridge as skittish dinner patrons looked on.



He said 83 people were safely rescued by early Saturday after an effort lasting hours, led off one by one.



Luckily the people on the boat called emergency services swiftly on their cell phones, Kiely told The Associated Press early Saturday.



TV footage showed dinner patrons pacing aboard the barge as firefighters boarded up the makeshift bridge of ladders that spanned swirling, murky, debris-filled water. Tugboats edged close as people gathered to watch from land.



Kiely said the regular gangplanks tore away, cutting off those aboard from shore.



There were three gangplanks on the restaurant already and when it broke loose it destroyed sections ... the last 20 feet of the gangplanks were destroyed as the boat moved downriver, he said by telephone.

Full story with video: http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/12/dozens-rescued-after-floating-restaurant-breaks-loose/