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Report on `Ride the Duck` accident on Aurora Bridge
Report on `Ride the Duck` accident on Aurora Bridge
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- It's unlikely that Seattle's Ride the Ducks tour vehicles will be back on the streets before next year. That's the word from state regulators.
Ride the Ducks was shut down after one of its amphibious vehicles collided with a tour bus on the Aurora Bridge on Sept. 24. The crash killed five North Seattle College students. A total of 62 people were injured, the NTSB said in a new report.
The state Utilities and Transportation Commission said during a hearing Tuesday that the final report on the company's safety practices won't be delivered until mid-December, which would be followed by a hearing.
The end-of-year holidays means a hearing on the suspension of the company's operations wouldn't likely be held before January.
The commission is investigating the crash and has alleged that the company broke federal safety laws and state rules. They claimed at least one of the vehicles operated in an unsafe manner.
A lawyer for the company had hoped that some the smaller Duck vehicles could return to service this month.
The National Transportation Safety Board released their preliminary report on the crash Tuesday afternoon.
The report says driver of the Duck vehicle reported hearing a loud bang as there was a mechanical failure at the font left axle, causing him to lose control. The duck crossed the center line into oncoming traffic in the southbound lanes and struck a motorcoach.
A Dodge Ram pickup also traveling southbound next to the motorcoach swerved into the northbound lane, while trying to avoid the collision, and crashed into a Toyota Highlander which was traveling northbound, the report says. A Toyota Tundra also heading northbound struck the left front of the Dodge pickup.
The NTSB says an axle housing modification in an October 2013 notice issued by Ride The Duck International is being reviewed as part of the investigation.
"The stated purpose of the notice was to alert owners and provide guidance on a modification to strengthen the DUKW axle housing to prevent fractures. The left front axle assembly that failed on the accident vehicle had an earlier modification to the axle housing that 2 had been recommended by Ride The Ducks International but did not have an associated service bulletin."
Read the full NTSB report below: