Last July, there was a collision involving the tug Caribbean Sea pushing a barge and a disabled “Duck boat” DUKW 34 at anchor in the Delaware River off Philadelphia. Two of the 35 passengers on the duck boat drowned in the collision.  The mate, the officer on watch, was apparently talking to his mother on the phone prior to and during the collision.

Tug boat lookout on phone during fatal crash, safety board says

According to the report, the Caribbean Sea’s master was off duty and below deck. The mate was on navigation watch. The report says that according to telephone records, the mate made a call to his mother at 2:32 p.m. The call, according to the report, lasted until 2:38, one minute after the accident occurred.

The report also states that that between noon and the accident, when the mate was on navigation watch, he made 13 phone calls and answered six.

In radio recordings released by the U.S. Coast Guard last year, an unidentified voice is heard yelling early in the incident, “Hey ferry, ferry, ferry! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!”

DUKW 34 crew members told investigators that they made radio calls to the tug boat Caribbean Sea that were not answered before the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board has said.