possible to survive something as tall as a three-story building just mowing us over out on the middle of a river. only a few minutes go by before kevin, his daughter, ruby, and everyone else onboard realize the inevitable. we started grabbing for life preservers and such chaos on there. and, you know, my poor little daughter didn t have any idea what to do. so, i did as best i could to get us to where we could at least have a chance and i look up and i see the first mate already jumped off the boat and he s already swimming for it. i m like, oh, my gosh. kevin and ruby don t have time to put on a life jacket. the barge slams into the duck boat, as if swallowing it whole. people were screaming, people were barking orders at each other and whimpering and crying
his 9-year-old daughter, ruby. my daughter and i were taking a daughter/daddy trip and part of the trip brought us through philadelphia. they decide to take a ride on the duck boat. it was a novel experience for both of us. are you having a good time, gang? this commercial for ride the ducks shows everyone onboard enjoying the tour from the streets to the river, on what is typically a care-free and exciting experience. but on july 7, 2010, at about 2:30 in the afternoon, this footage shows the duck boat sitting in the delaware river in the middle of an active shipping channel after problems with the boat s engine. the smell i was smelling when we first got in the river was kind of getting stronger. the engine overheats, and the captain drops anchor at about 55 feet. then the smoke started pouring out of that small
and i knew that that way we d be together if we died. kevin says he and ruby are pushed deep under the water. when we came up and the barge was not on top of us, it was truly, you know, an unbelievable experience of divine intervention. for me, it was like as if it swept us out to the river to prevent that from happening. to all of those people, i couldn t believe that all these people were all around us. the boat was gone. but kevin and ruby s ordeal isn t over. almost immediately they get sucked under the water for a second time. and this time i didn t have ruby s hair. and so i popped up and looked around and she wasn t there yet. and just as i was beginning to start to panic, i guess i was already panicking, but where is she?
were about to die. it just didn t seem any way possible to survive something as tall as a three-story building just mowing us over out on the middle of a river. only a few minutes go by before kevin, his daughter, ruby, and everyone else onboard realize the inevitable. we started grabbing for life preservers. such chaos on there. and, you know, my poor little daughter didn t have any idea what to do. so, i did as best i could to get us to where we could at least have a chance, and i look up and i see the first mate already jumped off the boat and he s already swimming for it. i m like, oh, my gosh. kevin and ruby don t have time to put on a life jacket. the barge slams into the duck boat, as if swallowing it whole.
where is she? and then she popped up. they swim for their lives. i was very, very proud of her. what a great kid! she swam very confidently. she didn t need me there, at that point. this is freedom, we have people in the water. looks like they got run over by a barge. one of the duck boats. i m going to pick them up. the crash claims the lives of two hungarian students, szabolcs prem and dora schwendtner. but somehow 35 people are pulled to safety. many need medical attention, including ruby, who suffers from shock. in philadelphia, the mayor holds a press conference. this is a very serious situation and we re going to do everything we can to, obviously, get to the bottom of it. investigators at the national transportation safety board