Many are wondering why the Ride the Ducks Branson duck boat was in the water during a severe storm.
Facebook/Jennie Phillips-hudson Carr
Disturbing video emerged showing the Branson duck boat sinking.
On Thursday, July 19, a duck boat on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri, capsized after taking in water from high waves. The boat was carrying 31 people when a storm rolled into the area and caused very rough waters.
According to local weather stations, a severe thunderstorm warning was put into effect about 30 minutes before the boat capsized. There had been wind gusts of more than 60 mph at the time of the tragic accident.
Many people are wondering why the duck boat was in the water during a storm, and Ride the Ducks Branson owner, Jim Pattison Jr., has offered some insight into that question.
“My understanding was when the boat went in the water, it was calm. Part way through coming back is when the waves picked up and swamped the boat,” Pattison told CNN.
Pattison also spoke with CBS This Morning, saying that the boat should not have been in the water.
“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. This business has been operating for 47 years and we’ve never had an incident like this or anything close to it. To the best of our knowledge – and we don’t have a lot of information now – but it was a fast-moving storm that came out of basically nowhere is sort of the verbal analysis I’ve got,” Pattison said.
“Usually the lake is very placid and it’s not a long tour, they go in and kind of around an island and back. We had other boats in the water earlier and it had been a great, sort of calm experience,” Pattison added. “You know, they have a very good record. So, again, this seems to be sort of almost a micro storm effect of something that no one was expecting to happen the way that it did.”
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