Did silenced radio on tug lead to duck-boat crash?

An anonymous tipster has claimed that the tugboat operator in last month's duck-boat tragedy may not have been able to hear distress signals because he turned down the radio to take a cell-phone call, said one of the attorneys representing the families of the Hungarian drowning victims.

The information "has not been confirmed, but those are one of the issues that the parents want us to find out," said Bob Mongeluzzi, referring to the parents of victims Dora Schwendtner, 16, and Sza-bolcs Prem, 20.

K-Sea Transportation, which was contracted by the city to operate the sludge barge that crashed into the boat, didn't have a written policy banning personal cell-phone calls while operating the vessel, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in Common Pleas Court. The tugboat operator also did not prohibit crew from turning down the radio, the complaint said.

K-Sea Transportation said in a statement that it's cooperating with the investigation and declined to comment on the suit.

The complaint alleges negligence, outrageous conduct and wrongful death, among other allegations.

The victims' parents sued because they want to know "how and why their children died, and to make sure that no children ever again drown alone at the bottom of a river," Mongeluzzi said.

Mongeluzzi cited a National Transportation Safety Board report stemming from a 1999 Arkansas duck-boat sinking that recommended that the vessels be made buoyant and that canopies be eliminated. The recommendations were not accepted by the Coast Guard.

Bob Salmon, marketing and sales vice president for Ride the Ducks, which operates the duck boats, said the two incidents were "entirely different."

Salmon also called Mongeluzzi's information "speculative," especially concerning the canopy and the vessel's buoyance.

"Our argument is that those two have nothing to do with the accident," Salmon said. "Our vessel was rammed by another. He's just speculating. His job is to point to as many people as he can."

The 13-count civil complaint names Ride the Ducks of Philadelphia and its parent company, Herschend Family Entertainment, of Norcross, Ga.; K-Sea Transportation, of East Brunswick, N.J.; Amphibious Vehicle Manufacturing, of Branson, Mo., a Ride the Ducks subsidiary that manufactures the vehicles; and the city of Philadelphia.

Mayoral spokesman Doug Oliver said "we haven't seen it yet," and declined comment.