A Seattle duck boat that swerved into an oncoming charter bus, killing five people and injuring dozens, did not have an axle repair that was recommended for at least some of the amphibious tour vehicles in 2013, federal investigators said.
Ride the Ducks International, which refurbished the vehicle in 2005, warned its customers two years ago about potential axle failure and recommended a specific repair or increased monitoring, National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener said at a Sunday news conference.
“This particular duck had not had the fix,” he said of the former military landing craft repurposed as a tour vehicle.
Witnesses described seeing the duck boat’s left front tire lock up Thursday before it veered into the bus on a bridge. Federal investigators said they found the duck boat’s left front axle sheared off — though they said it wasn’t clear if the axle had broken before or after the crash.
Ride the Ducks International told investigators late Saturday about the warning, Weener said. It’s unclear if the company that owns the vehicle — Ride the Ducks of Seattle — was aware of it, he said.
“We’re going to be following that,” Weener said.
Ride the Ducks of Seattle owner Brian Tracey did not say in a statement Sunday night whether the company knew of the warning.
“We are working to understand what happened and have completely opened our operations to NTSB investigators,” he said.
Tracey said he was in “complete agreement” with calls by Gov. Jay Inslee and Seattle Mayor Ed Murray to keep the duck boats off the streets pending a state inspection of all the vehicles.
Four international college students died at the scene of the crash, and a fifth — identified as a 20-year-old woman — died Sunday, Harborview Medical Center said. They were among about 45 students and staff from North Seattle College who were on the bus when the tourist-carrying duck boat swerved into it on the six-lane Aurora Bridge with no median.
More than 50 people were taken to hospitals. At least 13 people remained hospitalized Sunday.