Sightseers Get Unexpected Treat
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
FOX News
One group of tourists in Chicago got a little too up close and personal with another touring group — with the second group's bodily fluids, at least.
Chicago's First Lady, a sightseeing boat, was taking over 100 people on a tour of the city's world-famous architectural landmarks Sunday afternoon, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
The captain warned passengers not to look up with open mouths while passing underneath the grated bridges over the Chicago River, reports the Chicago Tribune, or else they might get a "taste of Chicago."
At 1:20 p.m., the boat paused underneath the Kinzie Street bridge (search). That's when one, or maybe two, tour buses passed overhead — and emptied their sewage tanks onto the boat below.
"It went onto people, into eyes and mouths," Lynn Osmond, president and CEO of the Chicago Architecture Foundation (search), told the newspaper.
Chicago's First Lady immediately went back to its dock, Osmond said. Some passengers became nauseous and ran below decks to the bathrooms.
Clothes were so soiled they had to be thrown out, and five people went to Northwestern Memorial Hospital (search) for tests and treatment, police said.
A Chicago police officer said there have been calls in the past about diesel or oil being dumped into the river, but that reports of human waste are uncommon.
"It might happen more often than we think," he told the Sun-Times, conceding that this time, "it happened to hit a boat."
The pooped-on passengers got the license numbers of the large, black tour buses, and police were trying to track down their operators.
The Sun-Times said Tuesday that a touring rock band, which authorities would not name, may have chartered the buses.
However, the Tribune said a bus belonging to the Dave Matthews Band, which played a show at a nearby amphitheater Sunday night, had been fingered in the smelly mishap.
The band's main driver said he was parked at a hotel at the time.
"There is no way I could be responsible for that," Jerry Fitzpatrick told the Tribune. "I haven't emptied the tank for days. Besides, we are very cautious about how we do that sort of thing."
Osmond said some passengers were still awaiting some hospital test results — and that all aboard had gotten their $25 ticket cost back.
