Yes, millions of folks have been on the Branson line alone and until a few days ago without incident. At least since the early to mid 80s, possibly before. If I remember right in peak Branson they had two lines going full force.

They never let a tragedy go to waste.

Please don't politicize my thread.

Tell Luv that as well. She mentioned Blunt.

But understood. You will see no further politicizing from me.

Don't you worry your pretty little head. Dartgod will have a swift, creative punishment for me, too. LMAO

It better involve the stake. ROFL

I heard on my local news states they are indeed looking at possible criminal charges

I'm starting to think that I shouldn't go on that new 250 foot tall duck boat waterslide ride in Kansas City.

I have never had any personal dealings with Mr. Blunt.

I thought it was comedy, my bad.

Not without cameras installed in the tube.

Really. why were there at least one camera on a vehicle like this?

NTSB releases initial review of video recordings on Branson Ride the Ducks boat that sank

BRANSON, Mo. -- The National Transportation Safety Board said Friday it has finished its initial review of the digital video recording system on board the Branson duck boat that sank in Table Rock Lake.

https://fox4kc.com/2018/07/27/ntsb-r...oat-that-sank/

Here's the actual timeline. So now we know that the boat entered the water well after the TS warning was issued and less than 15 minutes before it sank.

I think negligence can be pretty easily proven.

Wow....what massive chain of disastrous decisions.

That company needs to go down in flames.

Who was the employee that told them to go into the water first?

Didn't we already know that? I think folks here put that together fairly early on.

The boat didn't look completely enclosed. Why didn't people just swim out and up?

I read somewhere that they released the roof at some time which happens to be where the preserves were attached.

*Kansas City engineers* Time to have a dance-a-thon on a duckboat which is on top of a Waterslide and Waterslide itself will be on top of Kemper Arena.

The passengers who perished were mostly either older, really young, or/and African Americans who traditionally as a culture are not good swimmers. Plus, panic and fear factor.

And wind and waves.

There was a lot of speculation about this but it was never reported. There was one guy who "thought he saw the duck headed towards the lake shortly before 7" but there was never anything official until this report came out. Not that I could find anyway.

You could be Michael Phelps and not be sure you could swim out of a sinking possibly capsized upside down boat in rough windy water. You have no idea if you are swimming up to surface or down to bottom because its dark in a storm. Naval aviators wash out in trainng because they cannot exit a cockpit in a pool that is sunk and upside down in the maximum allotted time to do so.

The time to have bailed and abandoned this boat was while still aboard on top water when alarms were sounding. The life vests on window up and into the water. The vests would have saved everyone of them I bet. This storm moved through so fast the waters would have calmed and lightened up. Boaters would have pulled them out IMO.

Why the captain didnt get them all in vests and when it looked the only option was to abandon he should have made that call. He will have to live with this the rest of his life.

Certainly one of the key questions for me.

We may never know exactly? Captain Bob died

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ans/812031002/

I guess he did.

Bob Williams was the driver the Captain is Kenneth McKee who survived.
https://www.news-leader.com/story/ne...ing/852494002/

Mind boggling that they would load up the Duck after Storm warnings went out.

.

Lawsuit has dropped...

Lawsuit: Duck boat company ‘chose to value profits’ over safety of its passengers

Not quite two weeks after a duck boat sank during a storm and killed 17 on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Mo., a lawsuit filed in federal court alleges that the companies involved in the incident knew the boats were unsafe, knew bad weather was ahead and put profits ahead of safety.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of families of several victims in the July 19 disaster, accuses Ripley Entertainment, Ride The Ducks of Branson, Herschend Family Entertainment and other defendants of negligence, wrongful death and product liability.

A duck boat carrying 29 passengers and two Ride the Ducks employees took to the waters of Table Rock Lake on July 19 with a severe storm approaching. The storm hit the lake and battered the boat before sinking, drowning 17 of its passengers.

The lawsuit says years of warnings about the safety hazards posed by the duck boats, many of them reconstructed World War II-era vehicles that travel on land and water, were not heeded by the companies involved in the Ride The Ducks enterprise.

The lawsuit cites several prior incidents involving duck boats, recommendations the National Transportation Safety Board made to improve duck boat safety and documents by Ride The Ducks officials showing the company’s alleged reluctance to accept the NTSB’s suggestions.

Since the May 1, 1999, sinking of Miss Majestic on Lake Hamilton, Ark., that killed 13 passengers, the NTSB has urged safety upgrades on duck boats. But The Star has found that Congress and the U.S. Coast Guard have been slow to act.

In 2000, the NTSB suggested that duck boats adopt a backup buoyancy system to keep the boats from sinking; the Miss Majestic boat took up to one minute to sink after taking on water in 1999.

The lawsuit produces a letter from former Ride The Ducks president Robert McDowell responding to the NTSB’s recommendation, saying “it will require considerable feasibility, evaluation and thus expense.”

[...]

Price tag I have seen is $100 Million, and that is just the family that lost 9. I am sure there will be more to follow. The company that filed the lawsuit has won every other lawsuit against "The Ducks".

Eh, that kind of stuff is largely meaningless. They just need a huge number to start with. They'll get somewhere between that and zero, but it really could be anywhere in that range.

Yep. Whatever the number ends up being it will cause the number of duck boats from them to be zero.

I am surprised it only started at $100M, I was thinking at least $150M

And another one...

Cue the “And Here We Go” GIF.

Wonder what the insurance rates for duck boats will be when this is all said and done?

I wanted to read through the federal suit filed by the Indiana people, but it would cost ten cents per page for me to get it. However, since this second case was filed in a county in Missouri, it's free. :)

Looks like the three daughters of the elderly couple are suing the Franchisor (Ride the Ducks), the franchisee (Ripley Entertainment), the captain, and the co-captain. Considering that the co-captain is deceased, anything from him would come out of his estate.

So there is only 2 in the food chain:D:D:D...Does Herschend Family Entertainment ( previous owner?) still have a ownership stake or are they dangling fruit?

Yikes I think last year I took my son and nephew on a boat when he was captain. These are from my phone, not real good pics but it looks like him.

You can really see the turbulence in the first pic...

LOL fixed, that was from last year.

https://www.ajc.com/news/how-1851-la...JVDkGE2TkKi1H/

Wow. ****ing wow. There is a special place in hell for lawyers like the ones behind this "defense".

Could've stopped there.

Dude, lawyers just argue the law. Sometimes laws have terrible, unconscionable results. At which point the blame lies on lawmakers.

“Lawyers hold this opinion because an 1851 law, the Shipowner's Limitation of Liability Act, often caps damages to no more money than the salvage value of the sunken vessel.”

https://www.news-leader.com/story/ne...its/818216002/

except for that defense is thrown out after they find the negligence of the company is what resulted in that accident.

I'm not sure what you expect lawyers to do besides argue the laws on the books.

Probably.

I was just explaining why that defense was used in their answer.

oh yeah, i wasn't calling you out on it. my bad

These duck boats are everywhere it seem not just in US but worldwide and while there have been accidents on whole not bad. Hell there on ocean bays the great lakes where storms and wave can be wicked yet very few fatalities and a lot seem to be land accidents. Unless there are horrible maintenance records its going to be hard to find fault with the company. The USTSB and Coast Guard recommends canopied to be removed but doesnt mandate it. I think its the boat captain who ass is grass who made the call to hit the water and cut short the land tour. What qualifications do they have to be a boat captain? Do they constantly train and retest to retain license. It appears to me they are retirees who have owned pleasure boats most there lives. Sadly what they will go after those fixed income retirees that were under pressure to get the days gate fees in before the storm.

It was reported that a manager gave the order to the Captain to head out and hit the water first while they were in the parking lot.

Grand jury indicts captain of Ride the Ducks boat that sank in Table Rock Lake

https://www.ky3.com/content/breaking...B-ieNATqZI9Q_g

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Charges have been filed against the captain of a Missouri tourist boat that sank and killed 17 people, including nine people from an Indiana family, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

A federal indictment shows 51-year-old Kenneth Scott McKee is facing 17 counts of misconduct, negligence or inattention to duty by a ship's officer resulting in death. The July accident occurred when an amphibious vessel known as a duck boat sank on Table Rock Lake when a sudden and severe storm rolled into the area. The boats were originally designed for military use in World War II but had been refurbished as a tourist attraction.

McKee is accused of not properly assessing the weather before or after the boat went on the lake near the tourist town of Branson, U.S. Attorney Tim Garrison said during a news conference in Springfield. Ripley Entertainment, the company that operated the boats, suspended operations following the accident.

The U.S. Coast Guard had found probable cause that the accident resulted from McKee's "misconduct, negligence, or inattention to the duties," according to an August court filing. The U.S. attorney's office added that the captain of a second duck boat that safely made it to shore during the storm acted in a "grossly negligent manner," though the court filing didn't elaborate on those findings.

The sinking killed nine members of Tia Coleman's family, including her three young children and husband, who were vacationing from Indiana.

The other people killed included two couples from Missouri, an Illinois woman who died while saving her granddaughter's life, an Arkansas father and son, and a retired pastor who was the boat's operator on land. Several lawsuits have been filed on behalf of victims and their survivors.

A spokeswoman for Ripley Entertainment has repeatedly declined to comment on the investigation but has said the company has cooperated with authorities.

The vessels first take tourists on a trip through Branson, a Midwestern destination for country music shows and entertainment venues about 170 miles northwest of Little Rock, Arkansas. The amphibious vehicles then travel to Table Rock Lake for a short excursion on water.

Weather was calm when the vessel known as a Stretch Duck 7 began its trip on July 19, but investigators have contended that operators had ample warning that a strong storm was approaching.

The vessel's certificate of inspection issued by the Coast Guard in 2017 established rules and limitations on when it could be on the water. It states the boat "shall not be operated waterborne" when winds exceed 35 mph and/or wave heights exceed 2 feet.

Video and audio from the boat, recovered by divers, showed that the lake was calm when the boat entered the water. But the weather suddenly turned violent and, within minutes, the boat sank.

The wind speed at the time of the accident was more than 70 mph, just short of hurricane force, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Weather forecasts had warned of an impending storm with winds possibly exceeding 60 mph.

The wave height wasn't known, but cellphone video shot by passengers on a nearby excursion boat showed waves that appeared to be far greater than 2 feet high.

In addition to the weather, the Coast Guard has said it was looking into regulatory compliance of the boat and crew member duties and qualifications.

Branson is among several places around the country where the amphibious vehicles offer excursions. Since 1999, 42 deaths have been associated with duck boat accidents.

On May 1, 1999, 13 people died when the Miss Majestic duck boat sank on Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs, Arkansas. In 2015, five college students died and more than 70 people were hurt when a duck boat veered into a charter bus on a bridge in Seattle. Two Hungarian tourists died in 2010 when a stalled duck boat was struck by a tugboat-guided barge on the Delaware River in Philadelphia.

Class C felony. A class C felony can have up to 10 years imprisonment and up to $250,000 in fines. 17 counts. Ouch.

Cannot comment on investigation other than to say it is ongoing. Also cannot say if further indictments for other individuals will be sought.

Granted, the decision of the captain on the other ship did not result in death, but he still made the same decision to go out on the water. Wil be interesting to see what happens.

Not sure how to feel about that. I'm sure the guy's life is already pretty much ruined and nothing is going to bring those people back. I don't see what throwing him in prison is going to accomplish.

That's a fair point as well.

They have a good chance to win with that. Our company ships cargo and carriers use that all the time in courts to pay zero or very little.

So, the captain decided to take the boat out on his own and not because the boss said to?

They decline to comment for that reason.

When the cargo on the boat is non sentient goods and the only people affected are employees... then I'm all about the law being applied. Not so much when the cargo is 100% human life. *shrugs*

I'll be extremely interested to see if the courts in Missouri allow/buy that defense.

That's a perfectly cromulent statement.
Posted via Mobile Device

familes probably won't see a dollar. Yet our courts give a guy millions of dollars for spilling hot coffee.

Auto-correct got me. Edited.

It was a woman

I love the people asking why they don't just shut down Ride the Ducks completely to prevent this from happening again.

That airplane crashed. Shouldn't we shut down airports so this doesn't happen again?

That cruise ship had issues. Shouldn't we shut down cruise lines so this never happens again?

Hey, that car had an accident. No more cars! Prevent it from happening again!

Come on, people.

Really gotta read that case to know why that woman got a settlement (that was reduced a ton on appeal).

She had to get skin grafts, folks. And there were internal memorandum from McDonalds execs acknowledging they were serving that shit way too hot but that it made the restaurants smell better so they did it anyway as a business strategy. And if you want to punish them for knowingly serving a thing that can hurt people in the name of selling more McMuffins, then the award has to be BIG because they're a billion dollar enterprise.

The McDonalds verdict made a lot of sense when you start to break it down. And again - it was reduced on appeal anyway.

Airplanes and cars are legitimate forms of travel, Ducks aren't. I'm not necessarily agreeing to shut them down but I wouldn't want the liability of them. I rode in one at Wisconsin Dells years ago and I wasn't terribly comfortable with how low it sat in the water. I'd never get in one again.

Penzed.

The physical and psychological scaring from hot coffee to the groin would be beyond what I can imagine. I wonder if the hubby sued in a separate case for damages.

I have life insurance on the ex and I suggest "Duck Rides" whenever possible....

Yeah people need to do some research about that case.
McDonalds was serving coffee intentionally over 160 degrees. They knew what they were doing and as you mentioned had an internal memo come to light that they knew they would be liable and were willing to take the risk because they thought it boosted sales. She not only had to get skin grafts on her inner thighs but also on her pussy. The coffee caused nerve damage to her. McDonalds got off light.
What would your dick and the normal usage of it be worth to you?

It is not the lawyers fault that that law is still on the books.

Maybe it will bring some closure for those who lost family members? I mean, you could use that argument on anything. That 23 year old woman who plowed down those kids getting off the school bus a couple of weeks ago is facing charges for it. You could say that her life is already ruined and that sending her to prison isn't going to bring those kids back. But I guarantee you that you won't find anyone making that argument in her defense. Nor should they. I have no problem seeing the captain go to trial. Get all of the facts before a jury and let them decide. He may get acquitted. But at least the families will have the opportunity to hear all of the details that might not have came out otherwise.

Yeah, people just rolled eyes and bitched about horrible lawyers and our poor justice system.

For me it was a great part of our system of justice. A business knew their product was dangerous to the public but kept it that way because it made them more money.

Lawyers and bad publicity keep businesses from making that decision on a daily basis. That helps protect us consumers from dangers we don't know. It had to be a large settlement to modify their behavior.

I have a cousin that remembers them from his Military days. They were pretty unsafe and not dependable for our Military according to him.

Nobody needs a fishing boat either, or a ski boat, they aren't "legitimate" forms of trasnportation" right? :rolleyes:

:spock:

New Duck Boats to hit Branson spring of 2021. New owners say new boat unsinkable. Somehow this sounds like Titanic all over again.

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63 felony charges filed in duck boat accident on Missouri lake that killed 17

A local prosecutor on Friday filed a total of 63 felony criminal charges against three employees over a July 2018 tourist boat accident on a Missouri lake that killed 17 people.

The charges were filed in Stone County against the captain, the general manager and the manager on duty the day of the accident for the Ride the Ducks attraction on Table Rock Lake near the tourist mecca of Branson.

The charges were announced by County Prosecuting Attorney Matt Selby and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.

The charges against captain Kenneth Scott McKee, of Verona, general manager Curtis Lanham, of Galena, and manager on duty Charles Baltzell, of Kirbyville, came seven months after a federal judge dismissed charges filed by federal prosecutors, concluding that they did not have jurisdiction.

McKee faces 29 charges, including 17 charges of first-degree involuntary manslaughter. An affidavit from a Missouri Highway Patrol sergeant accuses him of failing to exercise his duties as a licensed captain by taking his amphibious vehicle onto the lake during a thunderstorm.

Baltzell and Lanham face 17 charges each of first-degree involuntary manslaughter. They are accused of failing to communicate weather conditions and failing to cease operations during a severe thunderstorm warning.

The dead included nine members of one family from Indianapolis. Other victims were from Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas.

Many time I've been just across the lake from where this happened. I've raced a storm back to our dock just in the nick of time in the pontoon we had when I was in my 20's/30's. Those storms could roll up on you in a moments notice back in the day but in more modern times this storm should have been scene coming. Just a terrible **** up by the people in charge.

I find it interesting that the charges were filed in the little Stone County offices instead of Taney County where Branson is located.

Maybe the part of the lake the tragedy happened was in Stone County.

Isn't most of the lake on the MO side in Stone County?