A History of Fatal Duck Boat Crashes

In 1999, in Hot Springs, Arkansas a Duck Boat sank and claimed the lives of 13 people.
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In 2010, a stalled Duck Boat on the Delaware River in Philadelphia was run over by a barge; two tourists were killed.

In Seattle in 2015, five college students were killed when a duck boat on land collided with a bus.

In Philadelphia, a duck boat operator suspended its tours indefinitely after three people were killed in two separate crashes.

In Boston, new safety regulations were implemented in 2017 after a duck boat ran over and killed a 28-year-old woman on a moped and then a Texas woman was stuck and killed by a Duck Boat.

Indeed, the amphibious vessels have, on land, run over pedestrians, cars and scooters, at sea crashed, suffered mechanical malfunctions or sank.

A Liverpool duck boat sinking saw no fatalities but a pregnant woman and child were in the water.

And a duck boat caught on fire in the River Thames in London.

Some have called for the tourist boats to be banned. But with more than 125 duck boats in operation today, the crafts that were used to ferry soldiers and supplies on land and sea during World War II (the 1944 invasion at Normandy used Duck Boats) they are still a popular tourist excursion in cities from Boston to Washington. Technically called DUKW and pronounced duck, the DUKW craft is a six-wheel-drive amphibious General Motors-designed truck during the early 1940s for use in the Second World War.

Generally the retrofitted 2-plus ton amphibious passenger crafts are considered by some as a piece of history and a unique way to sight-see. But by others, the vessels are seen as “inherently dangerous because their design creates numerous blind spots for drivers, who sit 10 to 12 feet behind the bow, making it difficult to see directly below and in front of them,” according to a CBS News report from 2017.

In the case of the ’99 Arkansas crash, the National Transportation Board investigation found that “inadequate maintenance” was the cause of the boat, the Miss Majestic, on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas to sink. Thirteen people died when the vessel sank. The NTSB said the “probable cause listed the lack of reserve buoyancy and inadequate Coast Guard oversight as contributing causes.”

With 21 aboard, the Miss Majestic set sail onto Lake Hamilton when the craft began taking on water. Within just a few minutes of the tour, the stern (the back of the ship) began to rapidly sink in 60 feet of water. Seven passengers and the pilot of the vessel survived.

The graphics used in the wrongful death trail of the Miss Majestic is compelling.

But the 2010 crash is an at once stunning and disturbing incident. The boat was stalled and a barge ran right over it killing two tourists from Hungary.

A court case led to manslaughter charges for the barge driver and damages to the victims in the millions. CNN reported a $17 million settlement with the victims and the families of the two Hungarian students who died that day. The families of the dead split $15 million, and some 20 other victims in the accident divided up $2 million. A sludge barge towed by a tugboat plowed into and over the broken-down 33-foot “Ride the Ducks” tour boat. The craft sank with 37 aboard.

And tragically, while the count is still mounting, at least 11 were reported dead in a Missouri duck boat sinking on July 19.