Unsettling fresh images of the ferry that was damaged in a collision with a private boat and the survivors being escorted to safety show that at least one person has died and twelve more have been hurt.

As they worked through the night to rescue people ashore, the US Coast Guard and police quickly deemed the Sunday night catastrophe a “mass casualty event.”

A private boat carrying six persons struck the Clearwater Ferry as it was transporting festivalgoers to and from the last night of the 17-day Sugar Sand Festival.

When the ferry, which was carrying 43 passengers and two crew members, was forced to stop on a sandbar close to the Memorial Causeway bridge, that boat quickly left the area.

The impact of the crash caused plastic chairs to fall in on themselves, and parts of the small ferry’s top were completely destroyed, as shown in the astounding photographs.

Other photos showed courageous first responders standing on the sandbank, assessing the ship, and escorting passengers to safety on shore.

Six passengers in all were referred to as “trauma patients” and taken to different hospitals throughout the state.

The two medical helicopters that came to help had to airlift two of them to the hospital.

Ten ambulances and emergency service vehicles reacted to the first call, hurrying to the scene with their lights flashing and sirens blasting as information about the disaster began to leak. These vehicles evaluated and treated the remaining passengers.

Late on Sunday evening, the Clearwater Police Department released a message asking drivers to stay off Memorial Causeway as they transport victims to different hospitals.

“We’re working a boat crash off the Memorial Causeway bridge that has resulted in multiple injuries,” police said in the statement.

“It’s been declared a mass casualty incident by the fire department due to the number of injuries. All local hospitals have been notified.”

“Multiple trauma alerts have been called with helicopters transporting two of the more seriously injured.”

The ‘boat that impacted the ferry departed the scene’ following the collision, according to police. Upon its eventual discovery, the boat carried six people, all of whom escaped unharmed.

“We believe that the boat responsible for hitting the ferry left the scene immediately, and we believe that our law enforcement partners may have that boat,” Clearwater Police spokesperson Rob Shaw said.

Several photos seem to show the time an investigator escorted the accused boat driver from the Belleair Boat Ramp south of the crash scene.

“They were ‘hit from behind,’” Marco Vacheco, one of the ferry passengers, told 10 Tampa Bay.

“It was like a big yacht, it hit from behind, like it came through where the captain sits, like he was pinned down,” he said.

She ‘hasn’t felt the baby move’ since the crash, and his pregnant wife Brenda Alvarez told ABC Action News she was on her way to the hospital to be checked out.

“I’m a little worried I haven’t felt the baby move. It’s very scary.”

As the crash happened, Alvarez, who was traveling with her husband and their two kids, slipped between two seats. She claimed that her “whole body hurt” from the collision.

“We just wanted to get to our cars and get home. We never, you never expect anything to happen.”

She continued by stating that it’s challenging to fully understand “how fast [the other boat] was going, how that was even logically possible.”

“It’s horrible. It shattered, it shattered the whole back of the boat, left a huge dent,” she said.

Alvarez, however, gave credit to emergency personnel who courageously hurried to help her kids get off the vessel.

“Where we were, it was really shallow, so there was actually some paramedics that went out there and helped my children and I get off the boat,” she said.

In an emergency, up to 12 victims are believed to have been sent to various hospitals, and more are currently undergoing immediate assessment.

All injured patients were on board the ship when the accident occurred.

One horrified onlooker took to X moments after the crash, revealing, “A regular boat just hit the ferry in Clearwater. I think over 4 helicopters airlifting people out so far.”

“I don’t even know how many ambulances are there. Every minute there’s more and more. This is awful.”

According to police, emergency personnel had accounted for all passengers and patients on the ship by approximately 10.30 p.m.

The crash will be investigated by the US Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and US Coast Guard.