The boat was all packed up and ready to go, but it never left the dock.
Two cases of serious intoxication and one arrest prevented Saturday night's I-Cruise from leaving Boston Harbor.
The boat hosting the annual event, which is organized by the International Club (I-Club), remained docked at the World Trade Center for the duration of the evening after employees abiding by company policy refused to move the boat in response to students' drunken behavior.
The manager for the Spirit of Boston, the cruise's boat, informed members of the International Club's executive board that a female student had been hospitalized for alcohol poisoning and was in serious medical danger. Paramedics removed the student from the boat around 11:30 p.m., minutes before the boat was scheduled to depart, and took the individual to a nearby hospital.
I-Club executive board member Alyssa Edoo, a junior, confirmed a report of an additional hospitalization and an arrest but could not provide details for either incident.
Boat employees closed the bar on the boat, which was open to individuals 21 and over, about a half an hour after the first hospitalization, according to Edoo.
Sgt. Richard Ball of the Marine Unit of the Massachusetts State Police, who was at the scene, told the Daily that students arrived around 11 p.m. and "many appeared to have been drinking already."
"The boat was ready to go but there was a medical issue, and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) had to respond and remove a body," Ball said. "The boat stayed at the dock."
Six hundred students attended the sold-out cruise.
Following the policy of Entertainment Cruises, the company that administers the Spirit of Boston, the captain refused to leave the dock because of some students' levels of intoxication.
"They noticed that too many people were drunk so they wouldn't let us move and they closed off the bar," I-Club Vice President Tala Kayyali said. "The captain said that they didn't want to be in a situation where someone dies of alcohol poisoning because of no access to medical care on the water."
According to Kayyali, a junior, the first individual hospitalized was underage and had already consumed alcohol before boarding the boat. Once inside, she obtained more alcohol through someone who was able to purchase drinks from the bar.
Edoo said the second case of hospitalization was not as severe.
"I heard there was someone else that was taken, too," she said. "It was not as serious as the first one. The first one was pretty bad. We were all pretty worried."
"We're really sorry about this incident because we did our best at the entrance to try to make sure everyone was in good shape and avoid [an incident], but we can't control the bar," said junior Irmak Yalniz, president of the I-Club.
Yalniz added that toward the end of the event, members of the I-Club's executive board tried to persuade the captain to take a short cruise around the harbor, but the captain refused.
"This happened two years ago [at I-Cruise] and they were able to have a short 10-minute cruise, but this time he couldn't because there wasn't enough time," Yalniz said.
When it became evident that the boat was not going to leave the dock, executive board members arranged for early transportation back to Tufts, according to I-Club Treasurer Sanya Ramjatta, a sophomore.
"We plan the event in that we book the cruise and get the transportation, but it's up to students to hold their own and be responsible," Ramjatta said.
Senior Corey Briskin left I-Cruise early on one of the provided buses.
"I ended up leaving soon after the [incident]," Briskin said. "I heard there were going to be buses, and it seemed like everything was in mayhem. I know that a lot of people left because my bus was full."
Although transportation was provided for those who wanted to leave early, dancing and other planned events continued.
Sophomore Sejal Soni said that she had fun even though the boat didn't leave the dock.
"It was fun and the dance floor was really packed," she said. "After the bar closed they opened up the upper level for everyone," Soni said. Soni added that she was not officially told by organizers that the boat was not going to leave the harbor.
