Water taxi capsizes

Two people died and another three were missing after a water taxi filled with tourists capsized in Baltimore Harbour in a brief but fierce storm, a fire department spokesman said yesterday.

The accident occurred when a freak wind flipped the 11-metre boat over during a thunderstorm on Baltimore's scenic Inner Harbour on Saturday, city officials said.

Two people died and two others were hospitalised in critical condition, said Baltimore Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright. He held out little hope that the three missing people would be found alive.

Nearly two dozen people were pulled from the cold water or plucked off the hull of the overturned boat by Naval reservists.

"The boat tried to turn but the wind took him. There was nothing he could do. It just took him right over," said Petty Officer Edward Mendez, one of the Naval reservists on the rescue boat.

The part-time sailors saw the boat capsize in the storm from the dockside of the US Naval Reserve Center and immediately launched a rescue boat. Two of the reservists jumped into the water to rescue people unable to scramble onto the upturned boat.

"It's a very tragic incident but there could have been a greater loss of life," Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley said.