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Towboat operator pleads guilty in fatal “Duck Boat” accident

Matthew R. Devlin was charged today in an information with one count of misconduct of a ship operator causing death, in relation to the “Duck boat” accident on the Delaware River on July 7, 2010, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger and Special Agent-in-Charge William P. Hicks, U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, gCaptain reports. In this accident, the barge The Resource, which was towed by the towing vessel M/V Caribbean Sea piloted by defendant Devlin, ran over a boat operated by the tourism company Ride the Ducks International LLC. As a result, two passengers on the Duck boat who were visiting from Hungary, Szabolcs Prem, 20, and Dora Schwendtner, 16, were killed. More at http://gcaptain.com/towboat-operator-pleads-guilty?27893

Report on collision with duck boat published

Nearly a year after a barge pushed by the "Caribbean Sea" sank a duck boat filled with tourists in the Delaware River, investigators met on June 22, 2011, to finalize their report. As a result of the July 7 accident which sunk the 33-foot duck boat and dumped all passengers into the river near the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, two Hungarian tourists were killed and 26 people had minor injuries. None of the five crew members aboard the "Caribbean Sea" pushing an empty 250-foot barge was injured. The mate in charge - who has refused to cooperate with the investigation - was determined by the National Transportation Safety Board to be the main factor in the accident. He was on his cellphone repeatedly prior to the accident checking on the health of his son following eye surgery. He had also positioned himself in the lower rather than upper wheelhouse, where visibility was better. The NTSB found maintenance of the duck boat a contributing factor in the tragedy. Had a surge tank pressure cap not been missing, steam would not have entered the passenger compartment. That steam led the captain to shut off the engine and drop anchor in the channel because he thought the engine was on fire. By shutting down the engine, he also shut off the duck boat's horn system, preventing him from alerting the tug that the duck boat was dangerously close. The captain's actions were appropriate even though there was no fire on board, the report said. At the same time, he did not properly weigh the risk of collision in shutting down the vessel and waiting in the river for help. The duck boat's deck hand was also distracted by his cellphone. Instead of texting messages for help, he may have been more helpful to passengers if he had put the phone down and prepared for the emergency. After much resistance by city government, Ride the Ducks resumed operations in Philadelphia in April 2011 with several added safety features, including reduced time in the river. The company also has a speedboat and driver on alert near the ramp on Christopher Columbus Boulevard, where the duck boats splash into the river in the event of an emergency.