One person has died and several others have been injured after a boat struck a passenger ferry in Florida and fled the scene.

Police and fire services declared a “mass casualty incident” in Clearwater on Sunday night, and there were “trauma alerts” for six patients, local authorities said in a post on X.

All of those injured were aboard the ferry, which was carrying 45 people near the city’s Memorial Causeway Bridge.

Two seriously wounded people were taken to hospital by helicopter. Police did not provide any information about the person who died.

Police said the boat that fled the scene had been identified by another law enforcement agency, and an investigation was underway.