Duck-boat investigators describe video of run-up to deadly storm and sinking
BRANSON MO NEWS: by Michael Laris July 27 at 10:14 PM Email the author Shortly before the fatal voyage, the crew of the duck boat that sank last week in Missouri was told to head out on the water before taking its passengers on their road tour around the scenic Ozark Mountains, according to video and audio recordings retrieved from the vessel by federal investigators. Within two minutes of that instruction by an individual who stepped briefly onto the boat, and as passengers were boarding, the Ride the Ducks captain “made a verbal reference to looking at the weather radar prior to the trip,” according to a timeline released by the National Transportation Safety Board. Once the captain headed out onto Table Rock Lake, the vessel encountered a sudden change of weather. Soon after, a tone sounded on one of the vessel’s key safety systems, known as a bilge alarm, according to the NTSB. Such systems are meant to provide warnings if there is a leak or other problem with the vessel. The captain reached down, and the alarm turned off. He made a radio call that the NTSB said remains unintelligible on the recording, and then the alarm sounded again. The NTSB, working with the Coast Guard, the National Weather Service, Missouri authorities and Ride the Ducks Branson, the tour operator, is investigating the cause of the accident on the amphibious DUKW Stretch Boat 7, in which one crew member and 16 passengers were killed. The video information, including time stamps, remains preliminary, and no cause of the sinking has been determined, the agency said. But the preliminary NTSB account raises new questions as investigators seek to figure out whether there were problems with the vehicle, with its maintenance, with the decision-making by company and crew or with oversight of government officials. Citing the ongoing …
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