A passenger ferry with over 600 people aboard ran aground Saturday on Bainbridge Island. The “Walla Walla,” which was traveling from Bremerton to Seattle, appeared to lose power in Rich Passage around 4:30 p.m. “Initial indications are the vessel suffered a generator failure,” but investigators were still determining the cause of the ship’s malfunction, according to Washington State Ferries. Passenger Haley Socha told The Seattle Times that just 20 minutes after leaving Bremerton, the ferry’s lights cut out and the engines stopped running. An announcer told passengers to put on life jackets and brace for impact, as the ferry lost propulsion and steering, Socha said. After running aground, passengers had to deboard. They were loaded onto Kitsap Transit fast ferries and taken back to Bremerton shortly after 8 p.m. No injuries were reported, according to authorities.
