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Seattle Duck Tour Collides With Bus Killing 4 People, Injuring Dozens

This is the latest incident in a series of amphibious boat fatalities in recent years.
Photo by Ted S. Warren/AP

A Ride the Ducks tour vehicle and a charter bus collided on a bridge in Seattle today, killing at least four people and critically injuring another nine, according to the Seattle Fire Department.

The Fire Department told reporters that four vehicles were involved in the crash on the Aurora Bridge and a total of 50 patients were evaluated for injuries. Emergency responders evacuated 21 people to a nearby hospital, nine of which had life-threatening injuries. At least 90 firefighters responded to the accident, the fire official added.

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— Seattle Fire Dept (@SeattleFire)September 24, 2015

The cause of the accident was not immediately known, but police are investigating, the fire official said.

North Seattle College told the Seattle Times that at least 45 students were on board the charter bus at the time of the crash. The school has more than 900 international students, it said.

Ride the Duck, the company that operates the duck tour, told KIRO 7 News that they were "unsure" if they would be operating tours tomorrow. The crash took place on a major highway, which is now blocked for miles.

Current look @ Fremont and Ballard Bridges. SDOT will not allow maritime openings while Aurora closed. — Alexis Smith (@AlexisKIRO7)September 24, 2015

Duck tour buses, which can travel on land and water, have previously been involved in a number of crashes. In 2010, one of the company's tour buses crashed into a barge in the Delaware River in Philadelphia, killing two tourists and sending nearly 40 people overboard. Another duck boat crash took place in Boston the same year, which injured five people. This May, a second Ride the Ducks tour vehicle in Philadelphia killed a woman as she was crossing the street. The family of the dead woman, Elizabeth Karnicki, who was visiting from Texas, sued the operator of the tour for the accident over the vehicle's "huge blind spots," which apparently prevented the driver from seeing her, according to CBS3 Philadelphia.

The amphibious vehicles are cumbersome and often difficult to navigate on modern highways and crowded cities.