Update: Video added. Scroll down.
Update #2, 9:30 pm: Scroll down.
Update #3, Thursday morning added.
Update #4, Saturday – Missing bodies recovered. That and more information posted Saturday HERE.
A TOUR BOAT CARRYING 37 PASSENGERS WAS STRUCK by a barge and sunk Wednesday afternoon in the Delaware River at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Reports say that 35 of the passengers had to be rescued from the water and two are missing.
Coast Guardsmen pull one of the passengers from the river.
The accident occurred at 2:40 pm just off the Philadelphia shore line as the Duck-type amphibious vehicle was sitting still under a bridge. People on the craft saw the barge approaching and tried to get the operator’s attention, but failed. Some of the passengers reportedly jumped into the water before the collsion knocked the tour boat over, sending all passengers into the river. FoxNews reports:
The official Coast Guard statement says, “Crews of the Coast Guard, Philadelphia fire and police, New Jersey police and others are searching for two people after a collision between a duck boat and a barge near Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia.” A duck boat is an amphibious craft that can drive on land and also function as a boat.
The Coast Guard says six people have injuries and have been taken to local hospitals.
The Captain of the Port of Philadelphia has closed the river to all traffic between the Walt Whitman and Ben Franklin bridges until further notice. The rescue effort was greatly helped when a group of Navy SEALs was in the water doing a training exercise near the accident. The SEALs then joined the rescue effort.
There were 35 tourists on the boat and two crew members onboard when the accudent happened at 2:39 p.m.
The Associated Press filed this early video report:
* The two missing people are a 16-yr.-old girl and a 20-yr.-old man.
* The Coast Guard reports that the larger vessel is the tug-barge Caribbean Sea and is 250 ft. long. The depth of the river at that point is 10 50 ft.
* A spokeswoman says all eight people taken to a Philadelphia hospital after a duck boat capsized have been treated and released. Hahnemann University Hospital spokeswoman Coleen Cannon says 10 people were taken there after Thursday afternoon’s collision between the tourist boat and a barge. Cannon says two declined treatment and eight others — three teenagers, three younger children and two adults — were treated for minor injuries. Cannon says that by 8 p.m., all of them had been treated and released.
* The six-wheeled “duck boat” had driven into the water just after 2:30 p.m. and suffered a mechanical problem and a small fire, officials said. It was struck about 10 minutes later by a barge used to transport sludge, then sank.
U.S. Coast Guard held a press conference Thursday morning to release more details on their search and recovery efforts. Captain Todd Gatlin told the press that dive teams will not be used in the search today due to the murkiness of the water.
This morning the National Transportation Safety Board will begin an investigation that will likely take months to complete. Teams of federal investigators will review all aspects of the collision, including radio calls and inspection records. They will do distance tests, and investigators want to see any photographs and videos captured by eyewitnesses or those on board.
Late Wednesday night, the NTSB held a press conference concerning the incident. NTSB spokesman Robert Sumwalt explained, “We will be looking at the survival factors and the emergency response. We will be looking at human performance in operations of all the vessels.”
The Associated Press has this updated video report:
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