CANADA: An amphibious tour boat that sank in Ottawa on Sunday killing four people also sank a year ago but the two accidents do not seem to be related, a spokesman for the operators said yesterday.
CAA 43-year-old mother from Montreal and her two young daughters, aged 13 and five, were among the four who died when the Lady Duck - a converted Ford pick-up truck - suddenly pitched nose down and plunged to the bottom of the Ottawa River.
Her husband survived. The other victim was a 66-year-old woman from the French-speaking province of Quebec.
Eight others on board were rescued. Tours along the river and Ottawa's canal system are a popular visitor attraction.
The Lady Duck also sank last June in shallow water because of a bilge problem but a spokesman for the operators, Lady Dive Tours Amphibus, said it had resumed operations after mechanical repairs approved by the transport ministry.
No one was injured in the 2001 sinking, which is still under investigation by Canada's Transportation Safety Board.
"We do not know what caused this event . . . to our knowledge these two events are totally separate," spokesman Mr Rene Berthiaume told CBC Radio.
"We know for sure that the equipment which was put on [last year] after the modifications would not allow for any failure where there had been failure previously so it has to be something else at this point," he said.
Canada's transport ministry immediately suspended all operations by the company. Local police and the Transportation Safety Board have launched separate investigations into the drownings.
Earlier this year the transport ministry promised stricter inspections of small passenger craft after a 2000 accident in which two children died when their tour boat sank.
The accident happened around 4:15 p.m. as the amphibious vehicle, which tours both land and water, was approaching the docks of the marina across the river from the parliament buildings in Ottawa when it began to take on water.
Emergency crews arrived and tried to dive down to the vehicle, but it was too deep. - (Reuters, AFP)