Lawyers for Duck Boat victims want the vehicles to stay off the water

Lawyers for the two Hungarian tourists killed in a Duck Boat accident in July think the vehicles should stay off the water as a precautionary measure, until they proven to be safer.

Lawyers for the two Hungarian tourists killed in a Duck Boat accident on the Delaware River are calling for a moratorium on what they call “potential death traps.”  Ride the Ducks’ operations in Philadelphia have been suspended since the accident but, in a statement on its website, the company says it’s working with the Coast Guard and the city to resume operations.

Philadelphia lawyer Robert Mongeluzzi says the boats have serious flaws, and he’s urging the City of Philadelphia and the U.S. Coast Guard to immediately halt all duck boat service on the Delaware River until safer boats can be produced.

“In 1999 thirteen people drowned in a duck boat in Arkansas,” Mongeluzzi says.  “The National transportation Safety Board investigated that accident and made recommendations – make duck boats so they don’t sink, and if they sink, they shouldn’t have canopies because they cage people inside.  So until such time as the industry makes the duck boats that either don’t sink or don’t have canopies, we do not believe that it is safe for them to be out on the water.”

Duck boat canopies were changed following the 1999 incident in an attempt to allow easier escape in the event of an accident.