Matt Devlin

PHILADELPHIA — A tug operator consumed by a family emergency pleaded guilty Monday to involuntary manslaughter for a fatal crash with a duck boat filled with tourists, an accident he acknowledged was caused largely by his continuous use of a cell phone and laptop computer while he was steering a barge.

Pilot Matt Devlin said he “didn’t really make the best decisions” aboard the tug after learning that his 5-year-old son had suffered life-threatening complications during routine eye surgery. His distraction ultimately resulted in the barge plowing into the duck boat on the Delaware River, killing two Hungarian students.

“I wish I could take it all back ... I just wasn’t thinking clearly after getting that news,” Devlin said during a federal court hearing.

The remarks by Devlin, 35, of Catskill, N.Y., were his first public statements since the crash last summer involving the tug Caribbean Sea, the barge Resource and the duck boat, an amphibious tourist vehicle.

The accident occurred in Philadelphia on July 7, 2010, after the duck boat stalled in the busy shipping channel. As it sat anchored, awaiting help, the barge began bearing down and Devlin didn’t respond to distress calls because he had silenced the radios to talk on the phone, authorities said.

The crash sent all 37 people on the duck boat into the river, but 16-year-old Dora Schwendtner and 20-year-old Szabolcs Prem never resurfaced. The Hungarians were visiting the United States through a church exchange program; their families have filed wrongful-death lawsuits.

Devlin was charged with misconduct of a ship operator causing death, a maritime offense that authorities describe as the equivalent of involuntary manslaughter. As a condition of the plea agreement, he also surrendered his Coast Guard license. He faces 37 to 46 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

Although Devlin’s son, now 6, has fully recovered, at the time Devlin thought the boy might die or suffer brain damage, DeSimone said.