Tour boat calls before crash went unanswered

[RamboLiberal]

Source: CNN

The crew of a tour boat that sank in a collision in the Delaware River last week made radio calls to a vessel involved in the crash, but those calls went unanswered, federal investigators said Monday.

The tour boat crew told investigators that they made radio calls to the vessel Caribbean that were not answered, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

The Caribbean was towing a barge that collided with the tour boat, causing it to sink in 55 feet of water, the report said. Two people died.

One of five crew members of the Caribbean, meanwhile, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and declined to meet with investigators, the safety board said.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/12/pennsylvania.duck.boat.crash/index.html?hpt=T2

---

One fault I did see with the Duck in stories I read was its air horn wasn't working and they had discovered that during the morning inspection but let it go out anyway.

[90-percent]

1. The managers

I hope they got to keep their bonuses for keeping things running and on time. I also hope this accident won't impinge on their well earned bonuses.

-90% Jimmy

:sarcasm:

[RamboLiberal]

2. Seems to me unless investigation turns out something different

that most of the blame lies with the tug boat. Someone wasn't keeping a good visual lookout. The Duck is not the only small boat in that channel many of which probably lack radios.

[RamboLiberal]

3. Added info from Philly Paper

The mate on the tugboat involved in last week's fatal collision on the Delaware River took the Fifth Amendment and refused to meet with investigators this weekend, the National Transportation Safety Board said this morning.

On Saturday, investigators interviewed three of the tugboat's five-man crew, including the master, the engineer and one of the two deckhands. They did not interview the second deckhand, who was asleep at the time of Wednesday collision with Duck 34, a disabled tourist boat adrift in the water.

The NTSB did not say why the mate refused to meet with investigators, but noted that he "exercised his Fifth Amendment right," which protects against self-incrimination.

The NTSB also said in a statement this morning that other vessels in the area heard Duck 34 making radio calls to the tugboat, the Caribbean Sea, on Channel 13.

The tourist boat's master and deckhand told investigators on Friday that calls to the tug were not acknowledged.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100712_Tugboat_mate_invokes_5th_Amendment_with_NTSB.html