Scathing NTSB report on deadly 2010 Philly duck boat accident

On July 7, 2010, two Hungarian tourists were killed when the duck-boat they were aboard was smashed by a barge on the Delaware River.

Dora Schwendtner, 16, and Szaboles Prem, 20, died.

The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary 3,300 page investigative report on the crash last week. The report was based on eight months of interviews with passengers and other persons on the duck-boat and the tug that pushed the barge, along with pictures and other documents.

According to the report:

-Matt Devlin, first mate on the tug Caribbean Sea, was talking on a cell phone in the moments just before the crash.

-21 calls were made or received on Devlin's phone in the 2.5 hours before the accident.

-One call started five minutes before the crash and continued for one minute after the accident, an indication that Devlin did not even realized he had run over the boat operated by the Ride the Ducks tour company.

-Devlin made a false log entry stating that the tug had safely docked.

Ride the Ducks did not get away unscathed in the report:

-Numerous Hungarian passengers said the Ducks' captain only explained how to don lifejackets instead of giving a physical demonstration, a problem because they were not native English speakers.

-Klye Burkhardt, a deckhand on the duck boat, was texting his girlfriend just before the accident. However, Burkhardt defended this, saying he was able to keep a proper lookout at the same time.

A final NTSB report is expected to be released this summer.

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer