State files formal complaint vs. tour firm in Seattle crash

OLYMPIA – State regulators have filed a formal complaint against a Seattle tour company after one of its amphibious vehicles swerved into an oncoming charter bus last week, killing five people and injuring dozens of others.

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission filed the complaint late Tuesday, a day after it suspended operations of the repurposed military “duck boats” owned by Ride the Ducks of Seattle until an investigation of the accident is complete.

The complaint by commission staff was expected. It alleges that at least one of the company’s vehicles, “Duck 6,” was operated in an unsafe manner.

“While the cause of the accident has not been identified, any number of factors may have contributed to it, including the company’s maintenance of its vehicles, driver safety, or other operational issues,” the complaint says, noting that until the commission’s staff completes a full investigation of the company’s safety practices, the “scope of potential safety issues cannot be established.”

The complaint, which will be presented during a commission hearing Thursday, says an area of concern is federal investigators’ contention that the duck boat involved in the crash did not have an axle repair that was recommended in a service bulletin two years ago for such vehicles.

Authorities have been looking into whether axle failure caused the crash. The vehicle’s front left axle was found sheared off, but it’s not clear if it broke before the collision or during it. The National Transportation Safety Board has said it could take a year to determine the cause of the crash.

Four international college students died at the scene, and a fifth – a 20-year-old woman – died Sunday. They were among about 45 students and staff members from North Seattle College who were on the charter bus when the tourist-carrying duck boat swerved into it on the Aurora Bridge, a six-lane span with no median barrier. More than 50 people were taken to hospitals, and 10 remained hospitalized as of Wednesday.