A tugboat worker was presumed drowned yesterday after falling into the water near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge off Brooklyn while trying to climb aboard a tanker that needed fuel, authorities said.
Charles Kinder, 30, of Newark, Ohio, apparently suffered a massive head injury when he fell from a ladder between his tug, Ruby M, and a tanker, Gerol Cheronomoya, yesterday afternoon.
Authorities said it appears Kinder then slipped beneath the surface of Gravesend Bay. Police and the Coast Guard searched the waters with no luck last night. They are scheduled to resume the search today.
Kinder works for Gellatly Petroleum Towing Corp., a Hopewell, N.J., company hired to supply fuel for tankers. Authorities said he is a bargeman, who connects hoses and makes sure the proper amount of fuel is transferred from the tug to the tanker.