A tugboat towing a barge crashed into a sightseeing "duck boat" on the Deleware River in July 2010, killing two tourists. From Southern Stone County Fire Protection District via Facebook: This is the staging area during the initial response to the "MCI" The Branson Belle was not involved in the incident. https://www.facebook.com/sscfpd/videos/10155428857546697/ (CNN) — State investigators looking into the sinking of a duck boat in southwestern Missouri that killed 17 people – including nine from one family – want to know why the vessel changed the route it took that day, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said Saturday. The amphibious vessel, which had 31 people aboard, was sailing Thursday on Table Rock Lake near Branson when a severe thunderstorm whipped up intense winds and waves. The state is looking into the incident to see whether any criminal acts were committed, Hawley said, while the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating to determine the cause of the sinking. The attorney general said companies need to have procedures in place to deal with bad weather. Investigators want to know “when did the driver and (captain) of this vessel know about this storm forecast? When did they decide to alter the route of the boat?” he said. “Because they did alter the route of the boat. When did they decide that? Why?” Hawley could not say whether investigators had spoken with the captain, one of 14 survivors. The driver died in the sinking. Tia Coleman, a passenger on the boat who was sitting near the front, told reporters Saturday that passengers were told a storm was coming before going out on the water. She said when the boat first got on the water, it did not look cloudy. The attorney general said investigators from the Missouri State Highway Patrol will also look at the boat’s canopy and how difficult it was for the passengers and crew to get off during the chaotic event. “I certainly have concerns about the ability to exit the vessel, to get out of it in an emergency situation.” he said. The NTSB investigation into the sinking could take up to a year to complete, Earl Weener said Friday. Saturday, Weener said the NTSB has received outstanding cooperation from Ripley Entertainment Inc., the parent company of the duck boat business. Calm day turned stormy CNN asked Ripley President Jim Pattison Jr. on Friday what the crew knew about the thunderstorm warnings when the tour embarked. “My understanding was that when the boat went in the water, it was calm,” Pattison told CNN’s “New Day.” “And partway through coming back is when … the waves picked up and then obviously swamped the boat.” A tour lasts about 70 minutes, with about half on land and half on water, the company’s website says. The boat sank 40 feet and then rolled to an area 80 feet deep, Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said. Life jackets were on the boat, but there is no regulation mandating that duck boat passengers wear them, Pattison said Friday. Asked whether passengers were able to access them, Pattison said: “We don’t know that yet.” A severe thunderstorm warning According to weather data, the storm traveled hundreds of miles before it hit the lake, prompting severe-weather alerts as it moved along. Counties to the northwest of the Branson area were issued thunderstorm warnings at 5:45 p.m. – more than an hour before the boat sank. The Branson area was placed under a severe thunderstorm warning shortly after 6:30 p.m. Radar shows the first wind gusts arriving at the lake ahead of the storm, at 6:59 p.m. Authorities received the first 911 call about the boat’s sinking at 7:09 p.m., the sheriff said. 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. https://t.co/MABgacUimV pic.twitter.com/V7XVsFgP7Q — CNN Weather Center (@CNNweather) July 20, 2018 The storm was part of the same upper-level weather system that produced damaging wind gusts earlier Thursday in Kansas and spawned destructive tornadoes in Iowa. Attorney: ‘They are death traps and sinking coffins’ Duck boats travel on both land and water and are popular among tourists in major cities. The boats’ history dates to World War II, when such vessels were a common sight because of their versatility. In Branson, a popular family vacation destination about 200 miles southeast of Kansas City, Missouri, they are driven along city streets for part of the tour before the driver uses a ramp to enter the lake. Thursday’s sinking in Missouri isn’t the first time that trouble with these tour vessels have turned fatal. At least 39 people have died in duck boat accidents in the past 20 years. Accidents in and out of the water have marred their popularity and forced some companies to shut down their businesses. The NTSB issued recommendations after one of those accidents – the sinking of a duck boat in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1999. Thirteen of the 21 people aboard died. The NTSB determined the vehicle sank because it took on water quickly and didn’t have reserve buoyancy, meaning there was nothing to help it float. The agency said the boat’s canopy was a major impediment to the passengers’ survival. Of the seven people found dead inside the vehicle, four were found trapped in the canopy. The board recommended that amphibious vehicles be retrofitted for reserve buoyancy. Until those changes were made, the board recommended, all canopy roofs should be removed. Further, the NTSB said if those vehicles weren’t retrofitted and still had canopies, passengers shouldn’t wear life jackets. “The safety board is particularly concerned that both adults and children wearing life jackets are at risk of being drowned if entrapped by the overhead canopy,” the report reads. Friday, US Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, said the recommendations were never enacted into law. She said she and her colleagues would take a look at legislation, possibly as early as next week. “I’m not going to rest until we get something in the law on a national basis that does a better job of regulating the safety of amphibious vehicles,” she told CNN on Friday. Jeffrey Goodman, who has represented people injured in past duck boat accidents, said the vessels should be banned. “They are dangerous on land and on water. They are death traps and sinking coffins,” he told CNN. The NTSB and multiple duck boat companies declined to comment on the safety issue. Ride the Ducks Branson said it was deeply saddened and “will be closed for business while we support the investigation, and to allow time to grieve for the families and the community.” Mourners light candles for the victims Dozens of people left flowers, cards and balloons at a vigil Friday at the Ride the Ducks building in Branson. Mourners lit candles around cars left in the parking lot overnight – cars believed to belong to the victims. “I look at my family here, and this could’ve been us,” Ed Brown, who was at the vigil, told CNN affiliate KMIZ. After all 17 bodies were recovered, the Stone County Sheriff’s Office released the names of those who died. Nine members of one extended family from Indiana – all with the Coleman surname – died. CNN Tia Coleman was one of two in her family to survive the sinking. Nine of her relatives died. Two others from that family were on the boat and survived: Tia Coleman and her 13-year-old nephew. Coleman said at Saturday’s news conference that she doesn’t know yet whether she is happy she survived. But she thinks there is a reason she lived. “God must have something for me because there’s no way I should be here,” she said. Coleman said she knew she was in deep water because it was cold and she struggled to get the top. “I said, ‘Lord, please, I’ve gotta get to my babies. I’ve gotta get to my babies.’ The harder I was kicking to the top, I was pulled down,” she said. Three of Coleman’s children and her husband were among the dead.<doc-sep>You can find them in Boston, Seattle, and nearly every coastal or water-adjacent city. But following a serious accident on Thursday night that killed 17 people and injured seven, people are starting to wonder whether the so-called duck boats — amphibious vessels that allow tourists to view a city’s skyline from land and sea — are really safe for the public. The tragedy occurred after a severe storm reportedly surged 5-foot waves and 60 mph winds on a lake in Branson, Missouri. And yet, it’s not the first time that these duck tours, frequently a family activity, have been implicated in deadly accidents due to a design feature that relates to their initial intended purpose. DUKW boats’ origins can be traced all the way back to World War II. This amphibious, all-wheel drive vehicle — meaning, like a duck, it can travel on both land and water — was designed in 1942 as a way for the US Army to ferry ammunition, supplies, and equipment to offshore transport areas. The boat’s architecture, based on the CCKW, a 2.5-ton Army cargo truck, has a hollow, rectangular hull and a singular propeller for forward momentum. DUKW boats in Normandy, France, during WWII. Because it only travels at a speed of five knots per hour, the boat was never meant to survive rough seas or intended for civilian use. In the summer of 1946, however, Bob Unger purchased an army surplus DUKW and transformed it into a duck boat tour of the Wisconsin Dells. Unger’s ingenuity paved the way for future companies to follow suit, like Ride the Ducks, the duck tour operator behind the deadly accident on Table Rock Lake in Missouri. As the demand for duck tours increased, the design of the boat has in fact been updated to better accommodate the popular summertime activity. These include the popular canopy roofs that were added to the boat’s design in later years, and which experts say poses a safety risk for passengers trying to escape in the event of an emergency. “This is not an open-sided boat where everybody can just pitch themselves over the side readily,” Robert Mongeluzzi, an attorney in Philadelphia who has previously brought lawsuits against duck tour companies, told the Kansas City Star on Friday. Story continues A duck boat tour in the Boston harbor. Despite life vests being present on the Missouri boat, the fact that the narrow boat sits low to the ground coupled with the rooftop design offered little room to escape once it started to sink, creating a drowning risk for everyone onboard. “The problem with canopies is that if you are wearing your life preserver and there is a canopy and the boat capsizes then, the floatation device will take you up in the canopy, pinning you inside the vessel,” said Mongeluzzi. A similar tragedy played out in 1999 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, when 13 people were killed when a duck boat sank to the bottom of the lake just seven minutes into the tour due to poor maintenance. It happened again in 2010, when a duck boat collided with a barge on the Delaware River. It started to sink, killing two people and injuring 26. In the past 20 years alone, more than 30 people have died from duck boat accidents. So long as we continue to use duck boats for tour cruises — despite being increasingly and widely aware of their faulty design — more people are likely to be put in harm’s way. Photos via Wikimedia Commons (1, 2, 3) More From Inverse<doc-sep>Bob Schwartz, a spokesman for Boston Duck Tours, said the company uses replica World War II amphibious vehicles that were built in the early 2000s, and staff monitors the weather “constantly” from their corporate offices for all three departure locations (at the Museum of Science, the New England Aquarium, and the Prudential Center). A Boston-based duck tour company said its “thoughts and prayers” go out to the families of the people on the duck boat that sank in a thunderstorm in Missouri on Thursday, and issued a statement reassuring the public that its Boston tours adhere to strict safety standards. Advertisement In instances of impending bad weather, Schwartz said the staff is able to communicate with all duck boats simultaneously via two-way radios. Weather alerts can also be received through the marine radios on the vehicles, he said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of all those involved in yesterday’s tragedy,” Schwartz said in an e-mail. “The incident is currently under investigation, so it would not be prudent for us to comment or speculate as to what may have caused the incident, but extreme weather seems to have been a major factor.” Boston Duck Tours has been operating in Boston since 1994, according to the company’s website. Schwartz said the company has never had an accident on the water. “No, luckily the Charles River is a very safe and protected river,” he said. Schwartz said they do not allow the duck boats to go into the Charles River if there is lightning in the area or if conditions “are forecasted to exceed our operating parameters set by the US Coast Guard.” Their duck boats are not allowed to operate if winds are more than 25 knots (about 29 miles per hour) or waves are more than 1 foot high, he said. Advertisement The Boston duck boats stay on the water for approximately 20 minutes during the tour, and they’re required to stay within 1,000 feet of shore, he said. “At Boston Duck Tours the safety of our guests and our employees is our number one priority and [we] will continue to work closely with our partners at the US Coast Guard, Department of Public Utilities, Boston Hackney Division and Department of Transportation to ensure we maintain these safety standards,” he said. As of Friday afternoon, the Associated Press reported that 17 bodies had been recovered from the lake in Missouri. It is not the first time that a duck boat has sunk and resulted in deaths. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, 13 passengers — including three children — died when the Miss Majestic sank while touring Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs, Ark., on May 1, 1999. Another fatal duck boat water accident occurred July 7, 2010, when an empty sludge barge that was being towed alongside a tugboat collided with a duck boat in the Delaware River. The National Transportation Safety Board reported that the duck boat sank in about 55 feet of water. Two passengers were fatally injured, and 26 passengers suffered minor injuries. Although it hasn’t had any mishaps on the water, Boston Duck Tours was involved in a fatal accident that occurred on land in April 2016, when a woman on a scooter died after she was hit by a duck boat vehicle. In the wake of the accident the company instituted a number of measures to improve safety and help prevent collisions. Advertisement Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @emilysweeney.<doc-sep>
The deaths of at least 11 people after a tourist boat capsized in a Missouri lake on Thursday night have brought renewed attention to the dangers of duck boats. The National Transportation Safety Board is expected in Branson, Missouri, on Friday morning to determine what happened after a duck boat capsized and sank during a thunderstorm on Table Rock Lake, leaving at least 11 dead, seven others in the hospital, and six people still missing. Duck boats, which are a popular tourist attraction in cities across the country, have been involved in incidents in which at least 26 people have died over the past 20 years. NTSB investigators will look to determine if thunderstorms and 65-mile-an-hour winds were solely responsible for the Ride the Duck boat capsizing on Thursday. "In perfect conditions, generally you don't see problems, so when you start to look at events like this with rough waters and storms, any boat operating in those conditions, the margins of safety are eroded,'' former NTSB chairperson Deborah Hersman told TODAY Thursday. "You don't want to be out on the water, particularly with people who can't swim or children, in conditions like this." The bus-like amphibious vehicles, which were first used by the U.S. military in World War II, are able to transition from land to water. "There's been a lot of criticism of the boats over the years,'' Hersman said. "The design of them dates back to World War II, and so I think the investigators will look at that." Safety advocates have called for added regulations and sometimes outright bans of the use of duck boats following deadly incidents over the years. They have noted that the duck boat's design creates blind spots directly below and in front of the driver. Thursday's tragedy is the latest one involving a duck boat over the past two decades. Thirteen people drowned in an Arkansas lake in 1999 when a duck boat sank without warning before anyone could put on a lifejacket, which the NTSB blamed on "inadequate maintenance." Two people died in 2010 when a duck boat filled with tourists stalled on the Delaware River near Philadelphia and was hit by a barge, sending 37 people into the water. In 2015, five college students died in Seattle when their charter bus was hit by a duck boat on the Aurora Bridge. "The Miss Majestic event in Arkansas is one that they're probably gonna be looking at what they saw there to understand if some of those issues are the same,'' Hersman said. "Clearly the buoyancy of the boat, how fast it sunk, that was an issue in Arkansas, as well as the survivability of the passengers. "They found that that canopy on the duck boat made it harder for people to get out of the sinking boat." Follow TODAY.com writer Scott Stump on Twitter.