Feds: Tug mate preoccupied when duck-boat went down(on cell with family emergency) [View All]

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

The mate at the helm of the tug-barge combination involved in last year's deadly duck-boat crash was worried about a sick child and on his cell phone when the barge ran over the tourist vessel in the Delaware River, an investigative report released today said.

The report at the same time said neither the duck-boat crew nor its operators notified the Coast Guard, as required, that the vessel was adrift in the shipping channel before it got hit.

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One of the files, an investigative group report, said phone records showed the tug's mate was on a call he made to his mother's home when the barge smashed into the disabled duck-boat at 2:37 p.m. July 7.

The mate, who invoked his Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent to investigators, later told a tug company official that while on duty "he had been made aware of a situation in which his young son had experienced a life-threatening emergency during a medical procedure taking place that day and that he had become consumed with dealing with this family crisis," the report said.



Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20110307_New_details_expected_today_in_duck-boat_accident_probe.html