Duck boat, 2 bodies pulled from Philadelphia river

July 10, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA

Police retrieved a second body Friday from the Delaware River after they recovered the duck boat that was struck by a barge and capsized, leaving two young Hungarians missing.

Authorities did not immediately confirm whether the body was that of 20-year-old Szabolcs Prem. He has been missing since Wednesday’s accident, which also claimed the life of 16-year-old Dora Schwendtner. Her body was recovered early Friday nearly two miles downriver from the accident site.

The second body surfaced from beneath a salvage barge after crews raised the amphibious tour boat from the river bottom and the barge began hauling it away. A police boat pulled the body on board about a block downriver from where it surfaced.

Thirty-five other people were rescued after the 250-foot barge ran over the duck boat.

Schwendtner’s body was identified judging from possessions shown to her fellow tourists, said Jeff Moran, a spokesman for the Philadelphia medical examiner. An autopsy showed she died of drowning, and her death has been ruled accidental.

The boat was lifted from the water Friday afternoon about 100 yards from shore by a crane using two heavy yellow straps. A third strap was looped around the white boat as it remained in the water, its canopy and seats above the waterline.

Police and Coast Guard vessels surrounded the boat as it emerged from the water and was placed on a barge.