Attorneys representing the families of two Hungarian tourists killed when a Ride the Ducks boat collided with a barge on the Delaware River want to see the boats dry docked for good.
In a letter to officials, Holly Ostrov Ronai and Robert J. Mongeluzzi urged the city of Philadelphia to issue a moratorium banning amphibious vehicles like the duck boats from operating in the city's waters calling them "death traps."
They say the duck boats don't have sufficient buoyancy to stay afloat if the boats take on water. The attorneys also say the canopy that shades passengers, turns the boat into a dangerous cage in an emergency situation.
Thirty-seven people were thrown into the Delaware River on the afternoon of July 7 when an anchored Ride the Ducks Boat #34 was overtaken by the barge The Resource. The boat sank 40-feet to the riverbed.
Dora Schwendtner, 16, and Szabolcs Prem, 20, were unable to escape. Their bodies were discovered two days after the sinking.
The attorneys point to a National Transportation Safety Board report about the 1999 sinking of a similar duck boat as the reasoning for their request.
Thirteen people drowned after a duck boat they were riding on sank on Lake Hamilton, Arkansas in May 1999.
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The NTSB found that the canopy of the duck boat prevented some of the boats passengers from escaping. The report also stated that the boat was unable to stay afloat after becoming flooded.
Federal officials recommended duck boat operators alter the design of the amphibious vehicles to make them safer, but such changes were not mandated.
“The industry clearly learned nothing from the 1999 tragedy and no one should assume it will learn from the 2010 catastrophe,” the attorneys said in a release.
The canopy of Duck Boat #34 was partially ripped open, but still attached to the boat when it was raised from the riverbed following the accident.
The NTSB is investigating the July 7 sinking. Final findings in the incident is expected to be released in about a year.
Ride the Ducks operations in Philadelphia remain suspended as the investigation continues.
