The captain of the high-speed ferry that crashed into a pier in Lower Manhattan earlier this month told investigators he didn’t have time to warn passengers or sound an alarm when the controls of the boat failed.

Capt. Jason Reimer told a team from the National Transportation Safety Board that the failure of controls on the vessel’s bridge happened too quickly, according to a preliminary summary of the investigation released Friday.

The vessel, Seastreak Wall Street, was moving at about 12 knots when it slammed into slip D on the south side of Pier 11, injuring scores of passengers.

Federal investigators have not identified the cause of the accident, but said that Mr. Reimer reported that the thrust controls for the ferry’s engines failed to respond as he was preparing to dock the vessel.

(Source: WSJ)