PHILADELPHIA, July 15 (UPI) -- The first mate of a tugboat was charged Thursday with responsibility for a collision with a Philadelphia tourist boat that killed two Hungarian visitors.
The criminal charge filed in U.S. District Court said Matthew Devlin, 35, of Catskill, N.Y., violated "numerous rules of seamanship," The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Prosecutors said Devlin, by moving to a lower wheelhouse and using a cellphone or computer, had decided to "drive blind" as he steered a barge in the Delaware River.
U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said Wednesday Devlin had agreed to a guilty plea that would include 17 to 46 months in prison. He would also permanently surrender his mate's license.
The barge struck an amphibious Ride the Ducks boat that had come to a halt in mid-river because its crew thought something might be on fire. Dora Schwendtner, 16, and Szabolcs Prem, 20, who were in Philadelphia with a Hungarian church group, were killed in the July 7, 2010, collision.
Devlin was reported to have been distracted because his son was having eye surgery, and he had just learned there had been complications. He moved from a steering station so he would have access to a computer.
