Seattle ‘duck’ tour firm is suspended after crash that killed five students, including Chinese teen

A Washington state commission has suspended an amphibious tour service operator in Seattle while it investigates last week’s crash with a charter bus carrying international students, five of whom died, including a Chinese teenage girl, an official said.

Thursday’s crash between the Ride the Ducks truck and the bus on Seattle’s Aurora Bridge also sent about 50 people to hospitals. The deceased students were from Japan, Indonesia, Austria and China. The name of the 17-year-old mainland victim was not released.

The collision increased scrutiny on the duck boats, which carry tourists on tours and have been involved in a number of deadly crashes in recent years.

Washington state’s Utilities and Transportation Commission on Monday suspended all Ride the Ducks operations in the state, said spokeswoman Amanda Maxwell. The company had already suspended its tours.

Atlanta-based Ride the Ducks International, which refurbishes the World War Two-era trucks, told its customers the housing around the axle was a potential failure point and recommended repairs and increased monitoring, National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener said on Sunday.

Weener also said the left front axle of the amphibious vehicle was sheared off, but it was unclear how that occurred.