11 dead, others missing after boat capsizes on Table Rock Lake in stormy weather

[mountaineer]

Owner says doomed duck boat shouldn’t have been in water
By Lia Eustachewich
July 20, 2018 | 1:07pm | Updated

The owner of the tour company involved in the fatal duck boat accident said the vessel should’ve never been in the water because of the rough conditions brought on by a violent storm.

“I don’t have all the details, but to answer your question, no, it shouldn’t have been in the water if, if what happened, happened,” Jim Pattison Jr., the president of Ripley Entertainment, said on CBS News Friday morning.

Pattison said Ripley – which owns the Ride the Ducks boat — has been in business for 47 years and has never had a deadly incident. ...

More at NY Post

Every slimeball plaintiffs' attorney in St. Louis is after Mrs. Coleman and the other survivors right about now ...

[mystery-ak]

Owner of this Duck tour company set up a GOFUNDME account for this family.....buddy that's not gonna be enough,,,

[Cyber Liberty]

Owner of this Duck tour company set up a GOFUNDME account for this family.....buddy that's not gonna be enough,,,

Nope!  The survivors are going to own that company.

@Slip18 here's the thread....

[Slip18]

Nope!  The survivors are going to own that company.

@Slip18 here's the thread....

Thank you, @Cyber Liberty!

I have to say something here without reading the full thread. I just saw the mom of the three children who drowned on that Duck Tour Company excursion.

Guess what? Every single person on that boat are responsible for the deaths.  There is no excuse for not putting on a life jacket on every single person at any time on a boat.  Boats tip!  No excuse!

I am a very strong swimmer, and I have saved quite a few people in pools in my lifetime.  The boat had life jackets!  Why weren't they used?

I wore life jackets while water skiing.  It was for safety reasons.

Why???

I am very emotional over this because there were so many deaths that would not have happened had anyone used their brains and put on a life jacket on themselves and their children.  Takes less than a whopping 60 seconds.

 

[Applewood]

The owner should never have spoken publicly. Although he did qualify his remarks (if what happened, happened), a jury is only going to hear him say the vessel should not have been on the water .  He just about admitted liability.


Yep, lawyers are going to get very rich if suit is filed and the jury awards lots of money. 

[Slip18]

Ummmm, just checked the price for decent life jackets with straps sold by Walmart.

Under $20.

How very sad.

 

[mystery-ak]

Desperate last words heard by mother who lost NINE relatives - including her husband and three kids - aboard Missouri duck boat, as it's claimed the captain told passengers NOT to wear life jackets

    Tia Coleman is one of two people from her family of 11 who survived the duck boat tragedy on Thursday night
    Her one-year-old daughter, sons and her husband died along with other members of her large family
    Before the boat went down, she heard people screaming to rescue the children onboard
    Others have since told that the captain knew a powerful storm was coming and changed course because of it
    The duck boat was meant to go on the water at Table Rock Lake at the end of the hour-long tour
    To try to avoid the storm, the captain instructed that it go on the water first but they were not fast enough
    Passengers have told how he told them not to 'worry' about putting on their life jackets on the boat
    Once it began to sink, the captain released the canopy of the boat which allowed some people to swim free
    Seventeen people died in total, 14 survived - including the captain - and seven had to be hospitalized

By Jennifer Smith and Hannah Moore For Dailymail.com

Published: 14:01 EDT, 21 July 2018 | Updated: 16:36 EDT, 21 July 2018

more
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5978041/Grab-babies-Desperate-final-words-duck-boat-tragedy-victims-drowned.html

[mountaineer]

Off-Duty Cop Raced To Save People In Overturned Duck Boat That Killed 17
by HollyMatkin


Branson, MO – An off-duty Stone County sheriff’s deputy was among the first to rush to save as many lives as possible when a duck boat carrying 31 people capsized and sank in the turbulent waters of Table Rock Lake on Thursday.

The unnamed deputy was working security for nearby for the popular Branson Belle showboat, which offers tours across the lake, when a violent storm hit, Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said ...

A severe thunderstorm warning for the lake was issued about 40 minutes before the duck boat sank, but a severe thunderstorm watch had been in effect for over seven hours.

Winds topped 63 miles per hour at the Branson Airport, and were even more severe over the lake's open water, National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Linderberg told FOX News.  ...

Police were first called about the duck boat sinking shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday, officials said. While dive teams headed to the scene, people already there began to help, Rader said, a group that included one of his deputies, who was off-duty and performing security on the Branson Belle, a showboat that offers tours across the lake.

That deputy helped with the rescue, while employees of the Belle jumped in to help along with some of that ship’s passengers, Rader said, describing the effort as "outstanding."

The weather had been nice until shortly before the disaster, Allison Lester, who saw what happened from a nearby boat, said in another television interview.

"The wind really picked up bad, and debris was flying everywhere, and just the waves were really rough," Lester told "Good Morning America" in an interview Friday. "It was just suddenly and out of nowhere." ...

A lot of info compiled in this story at BlueLivesMatter

[thackney]

Video shows moments before Branson, Missouri duck boat capsizes

! No longer available

[Cyber Liberty]

That boat looked like it took on a lot of water by the end of that vid.

[Suppressed]

Guess what? Every single person on that boat are responsible for the deaths.  There is no excuse for not putting on a life jacket on every single person at any time on a boat.  Boats tip!  No excuse!

@Slip18

The National Traffic Safety Board recommends against it. 

Why?  The boat had a canopy. 

With a canopy, if the boat goes down, those with life jackets are floated up into the canopy and can't escape.

So they would have been in violation of NTSB recommendations if they'd had people wear them.

On the other hand, NTSB has urged operators to remove canopies from the vehicles.  But they're popular with the passengers, who want cover from the sun or rain.  And the NTSB is non-regulatory...they just make safety recommendations.


*While they're on the road, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulates them.  When in the water, it's the U.S. Coast Guard.  The Coast Guard requires the life vests to be present on the boat, but the recommendations are that they aren't to be worn in canopied boats.