Duck boat captain sues tug, Philly in deadly crash

PHILADELPHIA – A tour boat captain has sued the city of Philadelphia and operators of a tugboat that pushed a huge city barge into his amphibious vessel, sinking it and leaving two Hungarian tourists dead.

Gary Fox, 59, of Turnersville, N.J., said he may never recover from injuries suffered in the July 7 crash or be able to return to work. He feared he was going to die while trapped with his passengers in the Delaware River and blames the crash on the defendants' negligence and carelessness.

"He can still see the faces of the victims and hear their screams," lawyer Robert E. Slota Jr. said Thursday.

Along with the flashbacks, Fox also suffered injuries to his back, head, neck arms and legs, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The parents of the two Hungarian tourists who were killed have also sued K-Sea Transportation Partners of East Brunswick, N.J., along with the city and others. K-Sea operated the tugboat, which the city had hired to push its sludge barge up and down the Delaware River.

Fox worked for Ride the Ducks, a Norcross, Ga.-based company that operates land-and-water tours in several U.S. cities.

His 33-foot boat was stalled in the river's busy shipping channel when the allegedly unmanned 250-foot barge ran over it. The crash sent Fox, his deckhand and all 35 passengers into the water, and trapped him and others under the huge barge.

The National Transportation and Safety Board, in a recent preliminary report, found that Fox's distress calls to the tugboat went unanswered. Fox said his airhorn didn't work because he had to shut down the electrical system after seeing smoke, and there was no lookout on the approaching barge.

"Although other vessels heard Duck Boat 34's radio calls, the tugboat did not respond to Captain Fox's radio transmissions and did not change its course," Fox said in his suit, filed in city court.

The city had no comment on the pending litigation, a spokeswoman said. A K-Sea spokesman said the company had no immediate response.

Drug and alcohol tests on the crews of both vessels were negative, the NTSB said. The mate piloting the tugboat has declined to answer investigators' questions, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. His lawyer, Frank DeSimone, has said he is concerned that involuntary manslaughter or other criminal charges could be filed by federal prosecutors.

The two Hungarians who drowned, 16-year-old Dora Schwendtner and 20-year-old Szabolcs Prem, were touring the city as part of a church-sponsored exchange program. Their parents' lawsuits also charge that the canopies on Ride the Duck's amphibious boats can entrap passengers underwater.