Duck Boat being struck by barge

On July 7th, we posted about a collision between a barge towed by the tug Caribbean Sea and a disabled “Duck boat” DUKW 34 at anchor in the Delaware River off Philadelphia.  Two of the 35 passengers on the duck boat drowned in the collision.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a preliminary report on Friday, which says, among other things, that the mate in command of the tug did not respond to multiple radio calls from the DUKW 34 and other boats in the river prior to the collision.   A record of marine VHF traffic of Channel 13  made by the Burlington County Bridge Authority documents the attempts to contact the tug.   There was no lookout on the barge itself  and it is unclear whether the DUKW 34 was ever visible to the tug over the bow of the barge.  The mate on watch has refused to speak to investigators, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights against self incrimination.

The graphic below shows the relative position of the tug and barge and the DUKW 34 at the time of the collision.