July 7, 2010
A group of tourist’s ride in a duck boat on the Delaware River in Philadelphia turned tragic today as a barge ran over and sank their boat, sending all 37 people aboard into the water, reports The New York Times.
A duck boat is an amphibious truck, often converted from WWII military use or built based upon that design for tourist transportation tours.
The tour boat, part of Philadelphia Duck Tours and operated by Ride the Ducks, was anchored stationary in the water and waiting for assistance after a fire broke out onboard in the engine room. At about 2:30 pm, an 800-foot city-owned barge powered by a K-Sea Transportation tugboat under contract with the city hit the duck boat broadside.
A witness told the news source that she saw the barge hit the duck boat and then it disappeared. About ten seconds later, she saw the boat passengers popping up to the surface in their life jackets.
Coast Guard, Philadelphia Police and Fire Departments arrived minutes later and rescued 35 people, all but two, over the course of an hour. Emergency crews transported ten people injured in the accident to area hospitals.
Philly police told ABC News that the missing are a female 16 years of age and a male, 20. Boats and divers continued searching for the pair but had to call a halt at nightfall.
It is unclear whether the Philadelphia Duck Tours crew and passengers were wearing life jackets at the time of the accident.
"Our tour broke down in the water and we were waiting for help and a big barge was coming toward us and he didn’t stop," Duck Tour passenger Jackie from West Chester told CBS3, a local TV station. "He hit us and we capsized. We tried to grab them (life preservers) before we jumped off into the water."
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