Eighty-one people were hospitalised after being injured when the hydrofoil carrying them crashed into rocks at the entrance to the Sicilian port of Trapani late Thursday, officials said Friday, reported dpa.
The Ettore Morace, arriving from the island of Favignana, just off Sicily's north-western coast, had 144 passengers and six crew when it entered the north-western port of Trapani.
A total of 81 passengers were taken to hospital for treatment, most suffering bruises and shock. But eight, including three children and a woman with spinal injuries, were still being treated on Friday. The damage to the boat was considerable.
Port authorities in Trapani were investigating the incident, the second in which a hydrofoil has slammed onto rocks - which were placed as a protective barrier against tides - in the area this year.
Coast guards took the vessel's data recorder.