A fifth college student died Sunday from injuries sustained in a crash involving a charter bus and amphibious tour vehicle last week.
The crash involving the bus, which contained international students and staff from North Seattle College, and the Ride the Ducks tour vehicle, a truck and an SUV took place Thursday on the Aurora Bridge in Seattle. Four students were pronounced dead at the scene, and dozens of other people were taken to hospitals with injuries.
The students would have began their first quarter at the college on Monday, school officials said. They were identified as Runjie Song, a 17-year-old Chinese girl, Claudia Derschmidt, a 49-year-old Austrian woman, Privando Putradanto, an 18-year-old Indonesian man, and Mami Sato, a 36-year-old Japanese woman.
The identity of the fifth victim, a 20-year-old woman, was not immediately released, the Associated Press reported. Four people remain in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center, and 11 others are also still being treated.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board remained at the scene on Sunday, and authorities said they were likely to stay there for three to five more days. Final results of their investigation, however, are not expected for a year.
"We're still in the fact-gathering phase," board member Earl Weener told reporters.
So far, a number of questions are focusing on the duck boat's left-front axle. One witness told KOMO earlier this week the duck's left-front wheel appeared to lock up before the crash, and NTSB investigators found damage on the axle as well as surrounding components.
The former military vehicle, built in 1945, was refurbished by Ride the Ducks International in 2005. In 2013, the company notified its local franchises about a potential failure point in the housing around an axle, Weener said. Ride the Ducks recommended a repair or increased monitoring. The NTSB is now investigating whether Ride the Ducks Seattle was notified and why they did not make the repair, Weener said.
"This fix was not on this particular duck," he said.
The duck boat did pass its annual inspections, including one earlier this year, a spokesperson from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission told the Associated Press.
Among the next steps for NTSB investigators will be continuing to interview witnesses, inspecting the vehicles, and conducting 3D imaging of the charter bus, duck boat, and Aurora Bridge.
The bridge, which comprises of six lanes without a median, has prompted safety concerns in the past, the Seattle Times reported. It's the narrowest 6-lane highway bridge in Washington state.