Fire onboard Duck Boat before harrowing crash
Duck Boat tour boat and barge collide in Delaware River.
(Associated Press)
Officials say a fire on board had shut down a duck boat that was struck by a barge in the Delaware River off Philadelphia.
The barge hit the boat and overturned it Wednesday afternoon, sending at least 37 people into the water and later sinking. Officials said they were still searching for a 16-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man.
Coast Guard officials say that 35 passengers and two crew members were aboard and that two people are accounted for. A spokeswoman for the duck boat company says there were a total of 39 people on board. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
Mayoral spokeswoman Maura Kennedy says the barge was owned by the city and directed by a tugboat owned by K-Sea Transportation Partners of East Brunswick, N.J.
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