Fix had been advised for duck boat in crash
SEATTLE — A Seattle duck boat that swerved wildly into an oncoming charter bus last week, killing five people and injuring dozens, did not have an axle repair that was recommended for at least some of the amphibious vehicles in 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday.
Ride the Ducks International, which refurbished the boat in 2005, issued a warning to its customers two years ago about potential axle failure and recommended a specific repair or increased monitoring, NTSB member Earl Weener said.
“This particular duck had not had the fix,” he told a news conference.
Witnesses described seeing the duck boat’s left front tire lock up before it veered into the bus on the Aurora Bridge, and federal investigators announced Saturday that they found the duck boat’s left front axle sheared off — though they said it wasn’t clear if the axle had broken before or after the collision.
Ride the Ducks International informed investigators late Saturday that it had issued the warning, Weener said. It’s unclear if the company that owns the vehicle — Ride the Ducks of Seattle — was aware of the warning, he said.
“We’re going to be following that,” he said.
A representative of the Seattle duck tour company said he did not have any immediate comment on the NTSB’s account. The company said it has temporarily suspended operations after the crash, but Gov. Jay Inslee and Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced Sunday night that the state wants to make it official by suspending the rides pending the outcome of an investigation.
Four international college students died at the scene of the crash, and a fifth — identified as a 20-year-old woman — died Sunday, Harborview Medical Center said. They were among about 45 students and staff from North Seattle College who were on the bus on the six lane bridge with no median when the tourist-carrying duck boat swerved into it.
More than 50 people were taken to hospitals. At least 13 people remained at Seattle hospitals Sunday.
The amphibious vehicle tours are offered around the world, including in Philadelphia; Austin, Texas; Miami; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and London. They feature former military landing craft repurposed as tour vehicles.
A similar amphibious tour service recently closed in San Francisco. The city adopted new rules that forbid tour drivers from acting as narrators and require a second person to fill that role.
The vehicle involved in the Seattle crash was an Army surplus craft built in 1945. It was refurbished with a General Motors engine and chassis in 2005, Weener said.
The NTSB had few details Sunday about the warning Ride the Ducks International issued. It wasn’t clear what prompted the warning or how the potential failure was discovered, or whether it applied to all duck boats or only those that the company had refurbished, he said. It wasn’t clear how many of the 100 duck boats in service nationally may have had the repair, he said.