17 dead after duck boat capsizes on Table Rock Lake
 

This is awful. So sad...


NEAR BRANSON, Mo. -- The Stone County Sheriff confirms eight fatalities involved in a duck boat capsizing on Table Rock Lake Thursday.

Emergency crews responded to the incident shortly after 7 p.m. after a severe line of thunderstorms rolled through the area.

Sheriff Doug Rader reports the boat had 31 people on board. He tells KY3 News four of those have been transported to a hospital. Some of the 31 on board include children. Divers are on the scene searching for more possible victims. The sheriff says he does not know how many on the boat are missing. The sheriff is asking for any family missing someone to go to Branson City Hall. It remains a rescue and recovery mission.


http://www.ky3.com/content/news/Emer...488679201.html

I always thought it would be wise to have on a lifevest before one got on one of those legacy antiquated amphibious vehicles. Those thoughts come from my time in the Army on Mobile Assault Bridges.

I've been on "tourists boats" from time to time over the years and they always tell everyone where the life vests are but don't require anyone to wear them.

damn - what exactly is a duck boat?

That should cause a knee jerk reaction but nothing will change in MO law but the insurance company will force them to be worn from now on. I will be interesting to follow the lawsuits as it may have been an act of nature and not negligence.

Both..these storms didn’t just pop up out of nowhere

Amphibious vehicle.

https://thumbnails.trvl-media.com/Fx...f94eca535.jpeg

It’s a boat on wheels basically..built from former military vehicles. It drives to the lame then goes into the water

Highway and water.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bran...w=1536&bih=732

I was on one of those just last week. Damn

That’s a ****ing nightmare. Imagine trying to find and save your children in that murky water.

I was playing golf tonight about 30 to 40 miles away. The storm didn’t “pop up”, but came in quick. I was almost caught on the course. Had no idea storms were even possible tonight. Very sad deal. Praying for the families.

There were wind gusts over 60 mph. Why would the operator have it out there?

thanks guys for the answers - this is too bad - prayers up and out to the families of the fatalities. Sad news.

Damn, I can't believe that don't make them wear a life jacket.

I'm in Springfield and the storm that rolled through here about 5 1/2 hours ago blew in hard and fast. I was looking out my window and everything was fine one minute and the next tree branches were getting blown down, trash dumpsters were sliding down the road, shit was getting horizontal.
Power was out all over town. Just now got mine back on.

Now 11 dead.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NEW INFORMATION: Stone County sheriff reports 11 dead, 7 injured after Ride the Ducks boat capsizes on Table Rock Lake: <a href="https://t.co/Yd5UigxAv2">https://t.co/Yd5UigxAv2</a></p>&mdash; KY3 News (@kytv) <a href="https://twitter.com/kytv/status/1020162486560075776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I’m in northeast MO and I was getting alerts on my phone before it arrived here. They had to of had warnings on their phones.

Table Rock is an extremely clean lake but drowning in a 60MPH thunderstorm is not a death I would wish upon anyone.

I'm not sure exactly where they put in at but I'm pretty sure it's in the bigger water area towards the damn.

Damn, that's horrible.

Video: https://www.kansascity.com/news/stat...215216305.html

Yikes.....

Why didn’t they just hammer down to the closet shore?

Why didn’t they have them put on there life vests during this?

Water is unrelenting. Prayers.

Still 6 people missing, so I assume the number of dead will rise to 17. Tragic...

:(

Yep, 13 dead now. 4 still missing.

It's one of those stupid things you see driving all over Branson.
Posted via Mobile Device

That looks like a shitty way to go out. Not that there is some awesome way to die, but drowning in a duck boat is not cool.

We live near Kickapoo High School. We had a few gusts of wind that made us look outside and some residual rain after that, but that was all. My boyfriend works on the SE side of town, and he said they had sirens go off. My co-worker was late this morning due to not having electricity most of the night. Starting to think we got pretty lucky at home last night.

I had to google it and they look like something out of a Meatballs movie.

Terrible tragedy though. The video was hard to watch.

http://www.ky3.com/content/news/Dive...488720161.html

Divers hunt for 4 after Missouri duck boat sinks, killing 13


BRANSON, Mo. (AP) — Divers are searching Friday for four people still missing after a duck boat packed with tourists capsized in high winds on a southwest Missouri lake, killing at least 13 people.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Jason Pace said 14 people survived, including seven who were injured when the Ride the Ducks boat sank on Table Rock Lake in Branson Thursday evening.

Patrol divers found two more bodies early Friday, raising the death toll from 11 to 13, Pace said.

Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said Thursday that stormy weather likely made the boat capsize. Another duck boat on the lake made it safely back to shore.

Passengers on a nearby boat told ABC's "Good Morning America" that the water became rough as the wind picked up.

"Debris was flying everywhere," Allison Lester said in an interview Friday.

Lester's boyfriend, Trent Behr, said they saw the body of a woman in the water and helped to pull her into the boat. He said he was about to start CPR when an EMT arrived and took over.

A spokeswoman for the Cox Medical Center Branson said four adults and three children arrived at the hospital shortly after the incident. Two adults are in critical condition and the others were treated for minor injuries, Brandei Clifton said.


Steve Lindenberg, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Springfield, Missouri, said the agency issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Branson area Thursday evening. Lindenberg said winds reached speeds of more than 60 mph (100 kph).

Capt. Jim Pulley, owner of Sea Tow Table Rock Lake, told the Springfield News-Leader that the winds pushed the duck boat that capsized behind a steamboat that was tied to the dock.

Rader said an off-duty sheriff's deputy working security for the boat company helped rescue people after the boat capsized. Dive teams from several law enforcement agencies assisted in the effort.

The National Transportation Safety Board said investigators will arrive on the scene Friday morning.

President Donald Trump tweeted his condolences Friday, extending his deepest sympathies to the families and friends of those involved.

Suzanne Smagala with Ripley Entertainment, which owns Ride the Ducks in Branson, said the company was assisting authorities with the rescue effort. Smagala added this was the Branson tour's only accident in more than 40 years of operation.


Branson is about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Kansas City and is a popular vacation spot for families and other tourists looking for entertainment ranging from theme parks to live music. An EF2 tornado that bounced through downtown Branson in 2012 destroyed dozens of buildings and injured about three dozen people, but killed no one.

Duck boats, which can travel on land and in water, have been involved in other deadly incidents in the past. Five college students were killed in 2015 in Seattle when a duck boat collided with a bus, and 13 people died in 1999 when a duck boat sank near Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Safety advocates have sought improvements since the Arkansas deaths. Critics argued that part of the problem is that too many agencies regulate the boats with varying safety requirements.

Duck boats were originally used by the U.S. military in World War II to transport troops and supplies, and later were modified for use as sightseeing vehicles.

From my understanding, the boat sank only a 100 yards away from shore and docks. The video going around that shows the boat fighting waves right before it goes under is from a woman seated on the Branson Belle that was docked at the time due to the storm. My guess is the captain was attempting to dock before the storm hit, but got caught up in it right before making it and turned around to fight the winds and waves versus attempting a hard landing at the docks. He likely never imagined the boat would capsize until those last few minutes and was pretty well ****ed at that point. Terrible tragedy all the way around.

Meant to address in my previous post, but most of the victims likely drowned as a result of being trapped under the metal canopy after the boat sank under water. The passengers would have had no clue the boat was sinking due to no visibility straight ahead (captain seat sits well above passenger seats) where the boat was taking on water and would have only had seconds to react once the boat started going under. Them wearing life jackets would have only contributed to being trapped under the canopy. Their only hope would have been the captain announcing abandon ship in the first few minutes the ship was taking on water in front, but he likely didn't realize the severity until it was too late.

I was thinking the same thing. It looks like those things are fully enclosed and the people that died, probably died as a result of being trapped inside as it filled up with water. I would imagine that having a life jacket on would have made it more difficult to escape.

Terrible, terrible tragedy. Very sad to hear about this.

Irregardless, when the weather starts to get bad the captain should make it mandatory that life jackets are worn.

I was on the lake less than 1 mile from where that happened. I was off the water 40 minutes before the storm hit. I was watching the clouds and paying attention to the Thunderstorm Warning on the mobile device. There is no way that boat should have been out. It did not come out of nowhere.

I also wonder once those ducks take on water, how hard would it be for the average person to escape through the opening between the seats and the roof.

One of the worst stories I've read in a long time

We were just at table rock a few weeks ago and talked about taking or boys on it

These stories really piss me off

I've never been on one, but I thought they had big plastic windows that they can put on. Perhaps they were on but difficult to remove?. I think people could have gotten out. Not sure if my chances would have been any better fighting waves and wind in the water, but I think I'd rather face that than be stuck inside of a vehicle. I'd like to think I would have exited the boat on my own, whether through a window or out the doors, but no telling what I might have actually done. Fear, plus having people, I'm sure, telling you what to do and not do.

https://images.familyvacationcritic....-the-ducks.jpg

I realize everyone's physical abilities are different, so not judging (i guess) - but I find it increasingly disturbing that when tragedies strike, people's first instinct is to pull their phone out and start recording.

Just an observation.

Wonder what people did prior to cell phones?

After watching the cell phone videos I'm surprised more people didn't drown.
It looks like it would be pretty damn hard to get everyone out in an emergency.

Pointed and shouted

This same thing happened a couple years ago in Hot Springs, Arkansas on Lake Hamilton. My parents lived down there. They really cram people into those ducks. It's like being in a school bus with three to a seat. And the roof sits pretty low, so there is no easy way to get out, especially if the boat was sinking. Most of these boats are really old too, like 1950's old. When this happened in Hot Springs I don't think weather was a factor. But yeah, you'd think when things started looking rough that the boat captain would make for shore asap to either get tied up to a dock or get to a boat launch. 17 deaths is bad, having kids die is the worst part.

Watching that video made my heart sink.

I think the plastic windows - I assume they have seperate ducks for wet weather - saw them parked in the lot last week when I was down there - would make it very difficult to get out. Like front window or back. Thats it.

Plus they take pictures of every group that rides and do a group picture when they pull out. Will be interested to see where the people who made it out alive were seated.

****ing horrible

The problem is these things are slow as shit in the water. And the rough water makes it really difficult to navigate.

That is gonna be a litigation bonanza.

We live about 2 miles north of springfield. Storm came thru here about 630, crazy ass wind. I've been on those ducks a bunch growing up. Crazy shit.

It's great to have all of this documentation.

There's only so much the average bystander can do in most tragic situations anyway.

People jammed in like sardines with a roof trapping them in, rough water, confusion, panic, etc.

Can you imagine the people clawing over each other trying to get out?

Parents trying to save their kids while people around them are in full survival-instinct mode?

This might be my worst nightmare.

When I was there last week we had a very brief storm come through - it was intense, trees down, water had to be rough, but it was a nice day, then it was a hurricane, then nice again. Is that normal down there?

Just like marshalltown

Wouldn’t something be signed before getting a n relieving the company of any liability? Either that or there is signs, printed on the back of the ticket etc.

These stupid duck boats are known to be dangerous. There's been quite a few tragedies involving these kinds of boats.

Though I don't know for sure, this doesn't seem like the kind of business that would be able to get away with a liability waiver. Baseball game where balls are unpredictable? Sure. Outdoor sports where injuries are relatively common? Sure.

You don't go on a tour where you're expected do just sit there the entire time and expect an injury. If they could get away with a waiver, pretty much every form of public transit would be able to as well.

I wouldn’t think that would matter in this case..this was pure negligence

Yeah, I we were lucky last night, the tornados that hit Boundurant formed right over my neighborhood.

Agree. Those Ducks stop before entering the water. They swithc drivers to a certified captain, and radio in for the all clear to enter the water. Something in that process broke down.

The last 4 bodies have been recovered, death toll at 17 now. I think I read that there were at least a couple of people in the hospital in critical condition.

God be with them and their families. Just terrible.

I've spent most of my life on or around Missouri lakes, including Table Rock. Being on a boat on the lake is my happy place. This is really getting to me. These people were all likely on vacation with their families just enjoying some time at the lake.

Those storms last night weren't just popping up here and there. They were rolling in from the west.
Hell, nowadays weather forecasts, storm warnings, even up to the minute radar are a touch away on about all phones.
I'd like to see what the radar looked like before that storm hit the lake. I'll bet you could see the damn thing coming from a ways off.

The Duck must of been defective the way it looked like it was taking on water and sinking.

Just terrible. Prayers to all families and to the community. My folks have a place in Branson. This is gong to rock the whole community.

Stood around & watched.

It always amazes me how people get upset at people for recording something like this. They were on the Branson Belle with a full crew aboard. Did you want all the passengers to start diving into the water? Talk about tragedy. Multiple the deaths by ten if everyone did that. Have common sense people. This rush to judgment & condemnation of people disgusts me.

I heard there was an excessive wind warning in effect before the ducks were on the water. It wasn't completely unexpected..

I don't know if it was defective but the things aren't designed to be in rough water. Looks like a big ass heavy truck floating in the water with not enough power. Watching the cell phone video you can tell it didn't have enough power.

Yea, we've had storms coming through here and there these last couple days.

Agreed. Those with the training to act (captain and crew of the Branson Belle) did act, from what I've read and heard.

Surprisingly a search of accident history really isnt that bad for as long as they have been in service. Many are land accidents still any fatalities is a bad thing but pleasure boats seem to have the bad outcome history.


This one really surprised me in Pennsylvania 35 aboard and only 2 fatalities. It was ran over by a barge while stalled by a cell phone distracted captain of the barge.
https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/asse...ge-gallery.jpg

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They should make these things like those cruise ship lifeboats that are basically big bath toys and are impossible to sink and supposedly will roll back over immediately if capsized

Here's the radar loop when this all went down.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Branson was under a severe thunderstorm warning issued shortly after 6:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. ET), about half an hour before the boat capsized. <a href="https://t.co/MABgacUimV">https://t.co/MABgacUimV</a> <a href="https://t.co/V7XVsFgP7Q">pic.twitter.com/V7XVsFgP7Q</a></p>&mdash; CNN Weather Center (@CNNweather) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNweather/status/1020303681248473089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Waivers don’t cover acts of negligence (e.g., sending the boat out with an impending violent storm on the radar).

See above.

Yeah, it's just a matter of jumping into rough water, being able to swim to the boat during a storm with 60mph gusts, getting into the boat, instructing everyone to calmly swim to the nearest exit, and grabbing any kids and/or anyone who can't swim, and getting them back to shore. I once saw Jason Bourne do it, piece of cake. :rolleyes:

You couldn’t drag me into one (or to Branson, for that matter).

Why was the captain going against the wind? Makes zero sense to me.

because they were close to the dock, and that was the way the wind was blowing. They couldn't run cross wind otherwise they have a much higher risk of capsizing.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda,... but yeah, it would have made more sense for him to go with the wind to the nearest land and just crash into someones dock.

you can see the Belle here, and I bet that parking lot just to the north is where the Ducks launch, you can see a boat ramp through the trees.


https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sh...!4d-93.3172096

Good luck with the insurance rates on those death traps going forward.