New York ? A Staten Island ferry slammed into a pier as it was docking Wednesday, killing at least 10 people, tearing off victims’ limbs and reducing the front of the mighty vessel to a tangled mass of wood, glass and steel. At least 34 people were injured.

The ferry pilot, responsible for docking the vessel, fled the scene immediately after the crash, went to his Staten Island home and attempted suicide by slitting his wrists and shooting himself with a pellet gun, a police official told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. The pilot was rushed to the same hospital as many of the victims and underwent surgery.

After interviewing another crew member, authorities began investigating whether the pilot was asleep at the wheel as the boat approached land, a law enforcement source told the AP.

The 310-foot ferry, carrying about 1,500 passengers, plowed into the enormous wooden pilings on the Staten Island end of its run from Manhattan at 3:20 p.m., ripping a giant hole in the three-level, bright-orange vessel.

Frank Corchado, 29, said it felt as if the ferry accelerated as it approached land, waking him as he napped on the trip home to Staten Island. He ran away from the front of the boat to safety, but saw others who weren’t as lucky — six people dead, including one who had been decapitated.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at least 10 people were killed and 34 injured, making it New York’s worst mass-transit accident in nearly a century. Some bodies were accidentally counted twice, leading to an initial report by city officials that 14 died.

The Staten Island Ferry boat Andrew J. Barberi is the site of a fatal accident in Staten Island, N.Y., where 10 people have died. The ferry slammed into a pier as it was docking Wednesday afternoon.

The crash happened on a windswept afternoon, with gusts exceeding 40 mph, and the water in New York Harbor was very choppy.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, although Bloomberg suggested the heavy wind as a possibility. The National Transportation Safety Board convened an accident investigation team, which will look at the weather, among other possible factors.

The five-mile trip between Staten Island and Manhattan normally takes 25 minutes. A free ride on the Staten Island Ferry is one of the city’s most beloved attractions to New Yorkers and tourists alike, giving visitors a Hollywood-style view of lower Manhattan’s skyscrapers.

The seven boats that make up the Staten Island Ferry fleet carry 70,000 commuters a day between Staten Island and lower Manhattan.

The boats make 104 daily trips between the two boroughs. The Andrew J. Barberi travels at speeds around 18 mph.