Hide Transcript Show Transcript WEBVTT IS REACTING TO WHAT HAPPENED IN MISSOURI. NEWSCENTER 5’S JOSH BROGADIR IS LIVE IN CAMBRIDGE. >> THE TRAGEDY ON THE WATER THERE VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE DAY-TO-DAY OPERATION HERE. FOR ONE THING, THE WEATHER. WHILE AN UNEXPECTED STORM IN MISSOURI, BOSTON DUCK TOURS SAYS THEY CLOSELY WATCH THE ELEMENTS FROM ALL THREE OF THEIR LOCATIONS AND WON’T GO OUT ON THE WATER IF THERE’S AN ISSUE OR EVEN THE POTENTIAL OF ONE. FIRST IS LIGHTNING. SECOND IS 25 KNOTS WINDS. THIRD IS WAVES THAT EXCEED ONE FOOT. PASSENGERS ARE SADDENED BY THE LOSS OF 17 LIVES, BUT UNDERSTAND THAT WEATHER WAS TO BLAME AND HAD NO PROBLEM GETTING ON DUCK BOATS TODAY IN BOSTON. >> THE PERCENTAGE OF ACCIDENTS IS LESS THAN 1%. I FEEL PRETTY SAFE AND A DUCK BOAT. I AM PRETTY EXCITED ABOUT THIS TRIP. >> THEY ALSO HAVE MORE LIFEJACKETS ON THE BOAT THAN PEOPLE LIFE JACKETS FOR 35 , 60 PASSENGERS, INCLUDING ADULTS AND CHILDREN. PASSENGERS ARE NOT REQUIRED TO WEAR THEM WHILE ON THE TOURS. BOSTON DUCK TOURS HAS BEEN OPERATING SINCE 1994 AND IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE DUCK BOAT COMPANY IN MISSOUR Advertisement 'Safety is No. 1 priority,' Boston duck boat operator says after fatal accident in Missouri Share Shares Copy Link Copy The company that runs duck boat tours in Boston is speaking out about the fatal duck boat incident in Missouri that claimed the lives of 17 people.A duck boat packed with tourists capsized on a Missouri lake and sank in high winds in the tourist town of Branson.Authorities blamed stormy weather for the accident Thursday evening on Table Rock Lake. Winds at the time were blowing as hard as 65 mph (105 kph), according to the National Weather Service.Boston Duck Tours said it continuously monitors weather locations at its locations. "We do not allow our ducks 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 U.S. Coast Guard,” said Bob Schwartz, director of marketing and sales for Boston Duck Tours.Schwartz said the tours do not operate if winds are over 25 knots or waves are over 1 foot. "The safety of our guests and our employees is our No. 1 priority and will continue to work closely with our partners at the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Public Utilities, Boston Hackney Division and Department of Transportation to ensure we maintain these safety standards," he said.Schwartz would not comment on the incident in Branson since the investigation is still ongoing. Fourteen people survived the incident in Missouri, including seven who were injured when the boat went down, state police said.Duck boats, named for their ability to 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 boat sank near Hot Springs, Arkansas.A deadly accident involving a duck boat in Boston two years ago prompted new safety regulations in Massachusetts. Allison Warmuth, 28, was killed in 2016 when she was struck by the tour boat as she was riding a scooter on Beacon Hill. That deadly crash prompted significant changes that included a ban on drivers narrating tours and new sensory equipment including an extra camera on the boats. Boston Duck Tours also added a second employee to all its vehicles.<doc-sep>From a 1999 accident on an Arkansas lake to a 2016 crash in Boston. Families are gathering in Branson, Missouri, to mourn the deaths of 17 people -- including children -- who were killed when a tourist duck boat capsized in a lake during severe thunderstorms Thursday night. The crash in Table Rock Lake isn't the first time a duck boat tour has turned deadly. From a 1999 accident on an Arkansas lake to a 2016 crash in Boston, here are some previous fatal accidents involving duck boats in the United States: 1999: Arkansas Thirteen people were killed when a duck boat with 21 people on board sank on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1999, the National Transportation Safety Board said. The boat was about 7 minutes into its tour when it sank by its stern and plunged 60 feet to the bottom of the lake, the NTSB said. Seven passengers and the operator escaped. The NTSB determined the cause of the accident to be inadequate maintenance of the vessel, which was built by the U.S. Army in 1944. 2010: Philadelphia A tugboat-guided barge hit a duck tour boat on the Delaware River in 2010, killing Szaboolcs Prem and Doran Schwendtner, two Hungarian students who were visiting the U.S., ABC station WPVI in Philadelphia reported. The tugboat pilot, Matthew Devlin, had been talking on his cellphone at the time and was sentenced to one year in prison, WPVI reported. 2015: Philadelphia Elizabeth Karnicki, a tourist from Texas, was walking in Philadelphia during the evening rush hour when she was hit and killed by a duck boat in May 2015, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Karnicki's husband argued duck boats have large blind spots causing the drivers to not see pedestrians; he sued the company and the case was settled, The Kansas City Star reported. 2015: Seattle Five college students were killed and many others were injured in a duck boat crash in Seattle in September 2015. The boat was driving on Aurora Bridge when the axle broke, causing the driver to lose control and collide with a bus carrying college students, The Associated Press said. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Ride the Ducks International violated the law by not telling regulators of a safety defect in the duck boats' front axle and by not issuing a recall, the AP reported. Ride the Ducks International agreed to pay penalties, calling it "an unprecedented failure," the AP reported in 2016. 2016: Boston Allison Warmuth was riding a scooter in Boston when she was hit and killed by a duck tour boat in 2016, according to ABC affiliate WCVB in Boston. After the crash, duck boats in the city added second workers to all its tours, reported WCVB. The boats also added new equipment including an extra camera to the tours and banned drivers from narrating during the rides, WCVB said.<doc-sep>Fourteen people survived, including seven who were injured when the boat went down, state police said. Investigators blamed stormy weather for the accident Thursday evening on Table Rock Lake. Winds at the time were blowing as hard as 65 mph (105 kph), according to the National Weather Service. BRANSON, Mo. (AP) — Divers found four more bodies Friday in a Missouri lake where a duck boat packed with tourists capsized and sank in high winds, bringing the death toll to 17 in the country-and-western town of Branson, authorities said. Named for their ability to travel on land and in water, duck boats have been involved in other serious accidents in the past, including the deaths of more than 40 people since 1999. Advertisement Five college students were killed in 2015 in Seattle when a duck boat collided with a bus. Thirteen people died in 1999 when a boat sank near Hot Springs, Arkansas. ‘‘Duck boats are death traps,’’ said Andrew Duffy, an attorney whose law firm Philadelphia law firm handled litigation related to two fatal duck boat accidents there. ‘‘They’re not fit for water or land because they are half car and half boat.’’ Safety advocates have sought improvements and complained that too many agencies regulate the boats with varying safety requirements. The boats were originally designed for the military, specifically to transport troops and supplies in World War II. They were later modified for use as sightseeing vehicles. Passengers on a nearby boat described the chaos as the winds picked up and the water turned rough. ‘‘Debris was flying everywhere,’’ Allison Lester said in an interview Friday with ABC’s ‘‘Good Morning America.’’ A severe thunderstorm warning had been issued for Branson at 6:32 p.m. Thursday, about 40 minutes before the boat tipped over. Lester’s boyfriend, Trent Behr, said they saw 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. Advertisement The driver of the Ride the Ducks boat died, but the captain survived, Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said. Divers located the vessel, which came to rest on its wheels on the lakebed, and authorities planned to recover it later Friday. The boat sank in 40 feet (12 meters) of water and then rolled on its wheels into a deeper area with 80 feet (25 meters) of water. Investigators had no information about whether passengers were wearing life jackets or whether they were stowed onboard, the sheriff said. The names of the dead were not immediately released. Crews working at the scene where a tourist boat capsized and sank uring a fierce storm on a lake near Branson, Missouri. SOUTHERN STONE COUNTY FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT/HANDOUT HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock A spokeswoman for Cox Medical Center Branson said four adults and three children arrived at the hospital shortly after the accident. Two adults were in critical condition, and the others were treated for minor injuries, Brandei Clifton said. An off-duty deputy working security for the boat company helped rescue people after the boat turned over, the sheriff said. Dive teams from several law enforcement agencies assisted in the effort. Suzanne Smagala with Ripley Entertainment, which owns Ride the Ducks in Branson, said the company was assisting authorities. She said this was the ride’s only accident in more than 40 years of operation. Thirteen bodies had been recovered by early Friday morning. In the hours after the accident, the lake was calm. But another round of thunderstorms passed within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of the area Friday morning, and more storms were forecast for later in the day, some severe, weather service meteorologist Jason Schaumann warned. Advertisement Weather can change rapidly in this part of the country, moving from sunshine and calm to dangerous storms within minutes, Schaumann said. ‘‘Tornado warnings get a lot of publicity, and severe thunderstorm warnings should be taken very seriously too, particularly if you are in a vulnerable area like a lake or campground,’’ he said. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to arrive on the scene later Friday morning. President Donald Trump tweeted his condolences, extending his sympathies to the families and friends of those involved. Branson, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Kansas City, is a country-themed tourist mecca built on a reputation for patriotic and religious-themed shows in numerous theaters. Table Rock Lake, east of Branson, was created in the late 1950s when the Corps of Army Engineers built a dam across the White River to provide hydroelectric power to the Ozarks. Associated Press writers Jim Salter in St. Louis; Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri; and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
BRANSON, Mo. (AP) — At least 17 people, including children, died after a boat carrying tourists capsized and sank on a lake during a thunderstorm in a country music mecca in southwest Missouri, authorities said Friday. The Stone County Sheriff’s Office said the death toll rose to 17 on Friday morning after the Ride the Ducks boat sank on Table Rock Lake in Branson Thursday evening. He said 14 people survived, and that seven of them were injured. Patrol divers found six more bodies early Friday, raising the death toll from 11 to 17, Pace said. 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. 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. 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). “It’s a warning telling people to take shelter,” he said. 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. 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. (© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)