Four people are dead after an amphibious Duck Tour truck in Seattle slammed into the side of a coach bus on the Aurora bridge in Seattle, Washington. Two passenger vehicles were also involved and several others are said to be critically injured.
As of about noon Pacific time, the Seattle Fire Department confirmed via Twitter that two people had died and nine were critically injured in the crash on the Aurora Avenue Bridge. An hour after that the Seattle NBC station reported the death toll had increased to four and twelve people were considered critically injured.
NBC also says that the Bellair Charters bus was was carrying students and staff from North Seattle College and the duck truck was operated by an outfit called Ride The Ducks, which has temporarily shut down to assess the situation.
A witness told KIRO 7 News; “the left front wheel of the Duck bus locked up, causing it to swerve onto the oncoming traffic, then t-boning the tour bus.” Another witness was quoted by NBC saying the duck truck’s left wheel “popped off” before it collided with the bus.
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, along with Fire Chief Harold Scoggins, Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole and Seattle Department of Transportation Director Scott Kubly made a public statement you can watch on video right here.
In the address Mayor Murray expressed sincere condolences to all involved and tells us “as a result of the tragedy, the city is going to have some significant transportation problems throughout the day and this evening.”
Chief Scoggins says that 90 firefighters in a massive squadron of rescue vehicles responded to the incident, and as of two hours after the crash responders were still working to care for the injured on-scene.
More as we have it.
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