Attorneys for duck boat victims say Philly should bar vessels from Delaware River as unsafe

Attorneys: Philly should bar duck boats as unsafe

PHILADELPHIA — Lawyers for two Hungarian citizens killed in a duck boat accident on a river in Philadelphia are calling for the city and Coast Guard to bar the vessels from returning to the water — which the company says it hopes to do this season.

Mechanical inspections and on-the-water testing are being done on the 15 amphibious Ride The Ducks vehicles licensed for Delaware River operations. A 250-foot barge being pushed by a tug hit the stalled duck boat July 7, plunging 35 passengers and two crew members into the river.

Attorneys for the families of the two people killed cite a federal analysis of a 1999 accident in Arkansas in saying that the vessels are unsafe due to their design and canvas canopies. Ride The Ducks says its canopies are designed to allow easy egress in the case of an accident.