Jesus I can't imagine losing nine relatives in one incident.
I was on one of those in seattle, but i'm pretty certain we were wearing lifevests. I guess these guys weren't from what i heard.
Or they were trapped inside the boat
The boat owners were told a decade ago to remove the roof from the boat so if it starts sinking, the passengers can just float. The people were trapped inside when it started taking water.
I believe the windows were wide open when i rode one. Because i remember watching people sticking their phones over the edge of the vehicle, over the water. And imagining all those geniuses dropping them right into the harbor.
I suspect this is a classic example of not teaching your kids how to swim.
Its worse than that:
The lawsuit says the boat operators violated the company’s own policies by putting the boat into the water despite the weather warnings. It also says the captain violated protocol by not telling passengers to put on life jackets when the water got rough and instead lowering plastic side curtains, “thus further entrapping passengers in the soon-to-sink vessel.”
Well the one shown in OP's pic has half-open windows. Big enough gap to stick your arm not, not big enough to actually squeeze through when you're trapped in a sinking metal box...
What a colossal shitshow, hopefully proper safety training and regulations can stop something like this from happening again.
Its easy for people to dump on safety regulations as being a nuisance and then shit like this happens.
I have a photo from when I was on Ride the Ducks ~10 years ago. Long time, but from what I understand, they didn't change much.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/WtAkaDXJS8DMOVgzU4VcqfgqqBL7l7wsFBVn-470vp1nMc022aZvfxAs0ken3Y5Oo3NStDgMBbcOOpt-NYuDgVGEuYk12pXztoptPDD25ZmkLuBT_vdHqzM4ATMB2KMGv3P_4HNGxFU=w1229-h922-no
Notice the vessel is under way. We were not wearing life jackets but the windows ordinarily were open, but granted in this photo, it was an otherwise calm, slightly rainy day IIRC. They were closed because of the storm in the accident.
Also notice friend coming from the operator's seat while the operator is on the right side. I thought it was cool at the time but I know realize its probably a big liability. Probably could get away with it because unlike a normal boat, they are not fast in the water and don't handle all that great.
The duck boats I rode just had tent tops, that way you could swim out the side pretty easily
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