Duck boat victims' families file wrongful death suit

Lawyers for the families of two young Hungarian visitors who died in a duck boat accident last month filed a lawsuit today against the tour operator, Ride the Ducks, and the tug boat operator, K-Sea Transportation Partners.

Attorney Robert Mongeluzzi, said the two victims died by drowning indicating they were trapped under water by the duck boat's canopy. He said a National Transportation Safety Board report on a 1999 duck boat accident involving a different firm said canopies on the amphibious vessels were a safety threat and should be removed.

Ride the Ducks spokesman Bob Salmon said it is not the NTSB that regulates the vessels, but the Coast Guard.

"And we meet and exceed their rules and regulations for amphibious vehicles," he said in a statement.

Mongelouzzi has been pushing the city to ban the vessels return onto the Delaware River, while Ride the Ducks hopes to resume operations before this season ends.

The law suit also says that K-Sea, operator of the tugboat Caribbean Sea which was pushing the barge that struck the duck boat on July 7, did not have a written policy banning the person at the helm from taking personal cell phone calls.

Mongeluzzi said his law firm received an anonymous tip that the tug's helmsman turned down the volume of the vessel's marine radio so he could take a cell phone call and did not hear distress calls from the disabled duckboat.

The helmsman, who has not been identified, has refused to be interviewed by the NTSB.

The duck boat's engine died with 37 tourists and crew aboard. The barge pushed by the tug smashed into into the vessel, forcing it under the water and and killing Dora Schwendtner 16, and Szabolcs Prem, 20.

The suit, filed in the Court of Common Pleas, seeks punitive damages and claims the deaths were senseless and preventable. Mongeluzzi said he was filing suit now to start the discovery process. He'll be able to subpoena documents and witnesses from both the tug company and Ride the Ducks.

Salmon said the NTSB has said that Duck 34, the vessel involved, was on its normal route about 150 feet from the Philadelphia shoreline. "This distance is well within the 300 feet required by the USCG," Salmon said.

The Delaware River's shipping channel runs parallel to Penn's Landing, little more than a stone's throw off shore. When Duck 34 lost power and anchored while awaiting help, it was within the shipping channel.

Contact staff writer Nathan Gorenstein at 215-854-2797 or ngorenstein@phillynews.com.