31 safe after amphibious bus drama

1/2
16 June 2013

More than 30 people were rescued or had to swim to safety when an amphibious tour bus sank in Liverpool's Albert Dock.

A number of people were taken to hospital after the Yellow Duckmarine vessel went under just before 4pm on Saturday. A "multi-agency investigation" has been launched into the sinking.

A rescue operation - involving police, ambulance, coastguard and the RAF - was mounted by the emergency services and 31 people were helped out of the water. The Royal Liverpool Hospital said a final total of 18 people were treated in connection with the incident. There were no serious injuries and all patients have been discharged.

The company runs tours on the city's roads with the promise of a "splashdown" ending. It is the second time in three months that one of the yellow vehicles has sunk.

It is understood that 28 people were led to safety from the bus, including a baby whose mother held her above the water on the roof of the sinking craft. Three more were saved from the water by firefighters.

A spokesman for Merseyside Police said everyone had been accounted for and added: "A police cordon remains in place at the scene and a multi-agency investigation into the full circumstances of the incident is ongoing."

Eyewitnesses reported seeing a large number of people swimming in the Mersey as the vessel, one of four in the company's fleet, sank in Salthouse Dock, part of the Albert Dock complex. People could be seen throwing life-rings into the water to help those trying to escape.

In March, the entire fleet was ordered out of the water after a bus, which was not carrying passengers, sank. Then, in May, the Queen and Prince Philip had a ride on one of the yellow Duckmarine buses when they visited the region as part of her Diamond Jubilee tour to celebrate 60 years on the throne.

Writing on Twitter, the Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson refused to be drawn on the future of the vessels until he knew everybody involved in the latest incident was safe. He wrote: "Albert Dock Duck incident, look I will not make any official comment on future of these ducks until we know people are all ok+accounted for."

According to the Liverpool Echo, Pearlwild Ltd, which operates the fleet, faces a separate investigation by the North West Traffic Commissioner, with a public inquiry set to be held later this month amid concerns over the operation of the fleet of wartime vehicles.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in