Duck-boat skipper sues city, tug-boat owners

Gary Fox, captain of the duck boat sunk by a city barge in July - a tragedy that left two young tourists dead - thought that he, too, was going to die while trapped in the Delaware River, he said in a lawsuit filed this week in Common Pleas Court.

Fox said that he was pushed under the hull of the barge and could see his passengers underwater as they struggled to swim out of the tourist boat's windows.

He was running out of oxygen when he managed to swim out one of Duck Boat 34's windows after the July 7 crash, Fox said in a suit charging negligence.

The suit names the city and K-Sea Transportation Partners, the owners of a tugboat that was pushing the city barge. A city spokeswoman said that it does not comment on ongoing litigation, while K-Sea officials could not be reached.

Fox said in the suit that he suffered severe emotional trauma as well as injuries to his back, head, neck, arms and legs.

Fox ordered his 35 passengers to don life vests when the barge did not stop, but two Hungarian tourists, Dora Schwendtner, 16, and Szabolcs Prem, 20, didn't make it out of the water alive.

Ride the Ducks hasn't resumed operating its amphibious duck boats here since the accident.

According to Fox's suit, he was on his third run of the day when he noticed smoke coming from the engine compartment. Fearing a fire, he shut down the electrical supply to the engine, called headquarters for assistance, dropped anchor to prevent the boat from drifting and radioed multiple times on Marine Channels 13 and 16 that the tugboat needed to change its course The tug never heard the warning.

Fox tried to sound the duck boat's air horn but it would not work because the electrical system had been shut down.

Robert Mongeluzzi, attorney for the Hungarian tourists' families, called the design of the air horn "moronic."

The lawyer noted the "horror" that Fox felt at being submerged underwater. "If it was horrific for him, imagine what it was the for two kids who never made it," he said