UK nurse tells of ferry crash horror

Published on 18/10/2003 01:00

A BRITISH nurse has told how she saved the life of a man who lost his legs in the Staten Island ferry disaster in New York.

Kerry Griffiths, 34, was sightseeing on the boat when it went out of control and slammed into a pier, killing ten passengers on Wednesday.

New Yorker Paul Esposito, 24, survived the crash but lost both his legs as concrete pillars tore through the vessel.

Ms Griffiths, a paediatric nurse from Swansea, was not injured but saw maimed waiter Mr Esposito crying for help.

At a press conference on Staten Island, she said: "He told me he had lost his legs. I said: ‘You have but you have got to concentrate on staying alive.’

"I put a belt around both his legs I put my jumper on him and I comforted him."

Ms Griffiths who works at Bristol Children’s Hospital had a tearful reunion with Mr Esposito at Staten Island University Hospital where he was being treated.

"As soon as we saw each other it was just . . . we clung on to each other," she said.

Mr Esposito’s tearful grandfather Michael, 72, hugged Ms Griffiths and said: "She did more than any one person could do. We found our angel." Doctors said if Mr Esposito had not received medical help from Ms Griffiths he would have become the 11th fatality of the crash.

Speaking earlier, Mr Esposito said: "She is the reason I lived."

The Staten Islander said she stayed with him until they reached hospital but then left without leaving her details.

Only after an appeal to find her, did she come forward.

He said: "She kept telling me: ‘Stay with me, don’t leave.’

"I asked how my legs looked and she responded: ‘It’s OK, you’re going to start a new life.’

"There were dead people in every direction around me."