page_title: Table Rock Lake duck boat accident
section_title: Investigation and aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Table Rock Lake duck boat accident / Investigation and aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Table Rock Lake duck boat accident
context_page_description: On the evening of July 19, 2018, a duck boat operated by Ride the Ducks sank on Table Rock Lake in the Ozarks near Branson, Missouri, in the United States. The amphibious vehicle sank with 31 people on board, leaving 17 dead, during high winds associated with nearby severe thunderstorms.
context_section_description: The NTSB dispatched investigators to the accident site the following day. In response to previous incidents involving duck boats, the NTSB had issued strong warnings about the design of the vehicles and the danger posed to passengers by their overhead canopies. Tia Coleman lost nine family members in the accident; she claimed that the crew specifically told passengers not to put on life jackets because they would not need them.
  Jim Pattison Jr., president of Ripley Entertainment (who bought the Ride the Ducks Branson location in 2017), told the media that the storm "came out of nowhere", then moved through the area and led to the accident. The day following the accident, Ride the Ducks announced that the Branson operation would be "closed for business" pending an investigation and out of respect for the victims' families; the company also announced that it will pay for funeral and medical expenses for the passengers on board the boat.
  Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta, Georgia, suspended their duck boat rides the day after the accident.
  The boat was raised from the bottom of the lake by the US Coast Guard on July 23, 2018, after being examined and photographed by divers. Divers also recovered a recording device from the boat, about 80 feet (24 m) below the surface.
  A federal indictment against the boat's captain, Kenneth Scott McKee, was announced on November 8, 2018. McKee is charged with 17 counts of misconduct, negligence or inattention to duty by a ship's officer, resulting in death. According to the indictment, McKee allegedly "failed to properly assess incoming severe weather both prior to and after entering the water" of the lake and he "entered the vessel onto the water while there was severe weather, including high winds and lightning approaching the area". In June 2019, Curtis P. Lanham, general manager of Ride the Ducks Branson, and Charles V. Baltzell, operations supervisor who was acting as a manager on duty, were indicted by a federal grand jury for multiple felonies related to the accident. McKee was also subject to additional charges.
  In November 2019, a safety recommendation report was issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), stating that the "Coast Guard has repeatedly ignored safety recommendations that could have made tourist duck boats safer and potentially prevented" the Table Rock duck boat accident. “These safety issues were identified almost 20 years prior to the sinking of the Stretch Duck 7 and remain relevant to this accident,” the report said. The NTSB said in their report that because of the boats low freeboard and open interior, it makes the duck boats “vulnerable to rapid swamping and sinking” when they are suddenly flooded. The safety report also found that a fixed canopy and closed side curtain impeded passenger escape and likely caused more deaths.
caption: The boat involved in the accident
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