Mate Piloting Tug in Duck Boat Crash Takes 5th

by KYW's Ian Bush

Authorities say the man piloting the tugboat involved in the fatal Duck Boat collision last week is refusing to talk with them about the crash.  Ride the Ducks operations in Philadelphia remain suspended as the investigation continues.

The National Transportation Safety Board spoke with the master, a deckhand, and an engineer who were aboard the Caribbean Sea, the towing vessel that rammed the barge into the Duck.

But the NTSB says a mate, who was at the wheel of the tugboat at the time, would not meet with investigators, instead "exercising his fifth amendment right."

Another deckhand was asleep, though authorities say it appears he was simply off-duty at the time.

In the minutes before the crash, the NTSB says the Duck's master and mate reported making radio calls on the channel used to contact a ship when there's a danger of collision.

Operators of other vessels near the crash site on the Delaware River tell investigators they heard those transmissions, but the Duck crew says they never got a response.