Duck Boat Tourists Rescued After Fire

Hold on to your duck bills—there has been another serious safety incident on board a Ride the Ducks tour boat. On May 5, the Coast Guard rescued 14 passengers from a Duck Boat after it caught fire in San Francisco Bay.

Duck boat tours feature land and water elements with amphibious vehicles in many cities across the country, including San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Branson, MO.

According to reports from the Coast Guard, it received a call at about 5:30 p.m. from a San Francisco Duck Tour boat after smoke was seen coming out of the engine compartment while it was travelling along the San Francisco waterfront.

When responders arrived on scene, all the passengers were wearing life jackets and the onboard fire extinguisher had sprung into action. A rescue boat then took the passengers to Pier 52, and a salvage company towed the duck boat back to the same pier. No injuries were reported and the Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the fire.

While all passengers made it safely off this duck boat, that wasn’t the case in a tragic incident three years ago. In July 2010, two Hungarian tourists were killed when a barge crashed into their duck boat in Philadelphia. Just prior to that crash, the duck boat had become disabled after a fire broke out on board. The victims’ families split a $15 million settlement after a jury found that multiple forms of negligence contributed to the tragic deaths of the two young victims.