NBC10 has just learned that a settlement may be in the works for parties in the deadly duck boat crash of 2010.
Testimony came to a halt after lunch today, which was day two of the wrongful death trial. All parties are seeing another judge to discuss a possible settlement, according to NBC10 reporter Terry Ruggles, who has been covering the trial.
The families of two Hungarian students who died in the crash are suing the duck boat company and the tug boat company.
Dora Schwendtner, 16, and Szabolcs Prem, 20, drowned when a barge being guided by the tug boat ran right over a Ride the Ducks boat, which was stalled in the middle of the Delaware River.
Government investigators found that cell phones were a major distraction in the crash. The tug boat operator was on the phone dealing with a family emergency and the deckhand on the duck boat was texting his girlfriend.
The deckhand jumped ship seconds before the crash. One day one of the trial, attorneys for the families showed video of Dora tossing her life preserver out to the deckhand.
The crash sent 35 passengers and a second crew member into the fast-moving river, about 150 feet from the Philadelphia shoreline. Prem and Schwendtner, who were on a trip here with their church group, never resurfaced. Their bodies were recovered two days later.
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