The boating crash near Philadelphia last year that killed two Hungarian tourists has been blamed mainly on a tugboat officer who wasn’t paying attention to safety because he was distracted by his cellphone and laptop computer.
The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Deborah Hersman, called the July, 2010, incident on the Delaware River “another example of the deadliness of distractions.”
“When people’s lives are in your hands, whether you’re piloting a tug, conducting a train, flying a 757, or even driving home this evening, you take responsibility by giving your full attention to the safety-critical task at hand,” Hersman said at her agency’s final safety hearing on the crash. “There is simply no conversation or action that is important enough to risk your life or the lives of others.”
As The Philadelphia Inquirer reports, the safety board cited the use of a cellphone and computer by the tugboat’s first mate, Matt Devlin, who was dealing with a family medical crisis when he failed to notice the tourist vessel, which was stranded in the river. Devlin, who was responsible for watching out for river traffic, also was faulted for navigating the tug from the lower wheelhouse, where visibility was reduced.
The tourist vessel, owned by Ride the Ducks International, was anchored in the shipping channel after being shut down by its operator, who had smelled smoke and feared an onboard fire.
Following the crash, in which the tugboat’s 250-foot barge was driven into the tourist craft, Devlin told his bosses and the Coast Guard that he had been worried about his 6-year-old son, who had nearly died during relatively routine surgery. Devlin made 15 calls and received six between noon and the 2:37 p.m. crash, and he used the computer to look up medical information, investigators said.
The master of the tourist vessel tried four times to alert the tug on two radio frequencies, without success, investigators said. Yet they faulted the master for failing to notify the Coast Guard or to send a general emergency radio warning to other vessels. They also noted that a deckhand on the tourist craft was texting on his cellphone in the minutes before the accident instead of watching out for other river traffic.
The Coast Guard still is investigating the crash.
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