BRANSON, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on a deadly tourist boat accident in Missouri (all times local): 6 p.m. A Missouri sheriff has said two…
BRANSON, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on a deadly tourist boat accident in Missouri (all times local):
6 p.m.
A Missouri sheriff has said two duck boats were heading back to land when one of them capsized on a Missouri lake in an accident that killed 17 people.
Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader disclosed that information in a Thursday night news conference in confirming the first 11 deaths from the accident earlier Thursday evening. The death count rose Friday to 17 after bodies were removed from Table Rock Lake near Branson.
A thunderstorm creating high winds moved through the area Thursday evening.
Rader said one of the two boats on the lake at the time made it back to land.
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4:45 p.m.
The nine members of one family who died in the duck boat accident were from Indianapolis, said Thomas Griffith, suffragan bishop of Zion Tabernacle Apostolic Faith Church in Indianapolis. He did not identify them.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s office confirmed that nine of the 17 victims in the accident were from one family and two other family members survived.
The tourist duck boat capsized in stormy weather Thursday night on Table Rock Lake. Twenty-nine passengers and two crew were on board.
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4:15 p.m.
A resident of the Missouri tourist town of Branson says she understands how a duck boat got caught on the lake before it capsized because of a sudden change in the weather that day.
Trisha Ayers says Friday that she saw the weather change in 10 minutes Thursday from sunny to gale force winds that were bending traffic signs.
The duck boat capsized Thursday evening on Table Rock Lake with a thunderstorm in the area generating high winds. Seventeen people died.
Ayers called the fatal accident a «fluke» and said she hopes it doesn’t tarnish Branson because most of its income comes from tourists.
She and her family moved to Branson 3½ years ago after visiting regularly from their previous hometown in the Kansas City area.
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3:55 p.m.
A spokeswoman for Missouri Gov. Mike Parson says nine of the 17 people who died in a duck boat accident are from the same family.
Parson spokeswoman Kelli Jones says Friday that another two members of the same family survived when the boat capsized on Table Rock Lake near the tourist town of Branson.
The governor’s office had no other information about the family members. Authorities have not yet identified the victims.
The boat capsized Thursday evening when a thunderstorm hit the area and brought winds that approached near-hurricane speeds.
Twenty-nine passengers and two crew members were on the boat when it capsized. The boat’s driver was among those killed.
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3:32 p.m.
The president of the company that owns the Branson duck boats says a sudden «microburst» of high winds apparently came up suddenly before one of the boats capsized, killing 17 people.
The accident happened Thursday on Table Rock Lake. The last of the victims were found Friday. Several local, state and federal agencies are investigating.
Jim Pattison Jr. is president of Ripley Entertainment, which owns the duck boat business. Pattison says the captain operating the boat had 16 years of experience, and the business monitors weather.
Pattison told The Associated Press that the water was calm and flat when the amphibious vehicle arrived at the lake, but a sudden storm emerged and «turned it into turbulence.»
Pattison says his company is «sad» and «devastated» by the deaths.
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3:25 p.m.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson says emergency responders and civilian rescuers helped prevent an even worse tragedy after a duck boat capsized on a lake and killed 17 people.
Parson spent Friday in the Branson area after the boat sank Thursday evening on Table Rock Lake amid high winds. He called the efforts of emergency responders and civilian rescuers «courageous» and said he was inspired by them.
He said people rushed in to help «in extremely dangerous conditions.»
Parson met with Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader and others leading the recovery operation before visiting the Cox Medical Center in Branson to meet with survivors and medical personnel.
The governor pledged the support of all state resources to help in an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the U. S. Coast Guard.
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3:15 p.m.
A spokeswoman for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers says the agency has no authority to keep people or boats off of its lakes, even when bad weather approaches.
Seventeen people died Thursday when a Ride the Duck boat capsized in Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri. The accident happened amid churning waters and stormy weather.
Corps of Engineers spokeswoman Laurie Driver says storms tend to blow up quickly in the region of southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas that includes Table Rock, but the agency must rely on people making their own judgments about the safety of setting out on the water.
Driver says Ride the Ducks of Branson has a permit from the corps to operate on the lake.
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2:45 p.m.
Doctors believe that two people in critical condition after a duck boat sank in a Missouri lake will survive.
Cox Medical Center spokeswoman Brandei Clifton says «doctors are confident» about their long term prognosis.
The two adults are in critical condition after nearly drowning in the accident Thursday evening.
Cox received seven patients Thursday. Two are those in critical condition, one refused treatment and the remaining four, including three children, were treated for minor injuries such as sore ears and general anxiety.
Clifton says the hospital treated the accident like a mass casualty event and called in extra staff in anticipation of a large number of patients.
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2:40 p.m.
A candlelight vigil is planned to remember the 17 people killed when a duck boat capsized in stormy weather in southern Missouri.
Several pastors will be gathering at 9 p.m. Friday at Brookside Church in Branson, with a previously scheduled fireworks display to follow the vigil and prayers. The Stone County Sheriff’s Office posted details about the vigil on its Facebook page. The post says, «EVERYONE is welcome!»
The Ride the Ducks boat sank Thursday night in Table Rock Lake after a strong storm generated wind gusts of 50 to 65 mph (80 to 105 kph) in the area. The Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
Branson is about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Kansas City and is a popular vacation spot for families and other tourists.
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2:05 p.m.
Authorities say it could take several days to raise a duck boat that sank in southern Missouri, killing its driver and 16 passengers.
Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Jason Pace says the vessel came to rest in 80 feet of water in on Table Rock Lake. Authorities initially said it would be raised Friday but Pace says it will take several days to get the equipment in place. He says investigators «want to preserve evidence as best is possible.»
Pace says the area has been secured and the investigation turned over to the National Transportation Safety Board and the Coast Guard.
Pace says divers indicated that the water visibility was better than normal, expediting the recovery of the victims’ bodies. They ranged in age from 1- to 70-years-old.
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Corrects the name of the lake in 2:05 p.m. item to Table Rock Lake.
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1:50 p.m.
A man who witnessed a deadly Missouri duck boat accident while aboard a nearby riverboat says the storm that swamped the smaller vessel appeared suddenly.
Brayden Malaske, of Harrah, Oklahoma, says no one was worried about the weather when he boarded the Showboat Branson Belle with family shortly before the storm hit Thursday night. He says Table Rock Lake seemed calm but that it «suddenly got very dark.»
He says he didn’t think the duck boats would have a problem despite the weather because they are repurposed military vehicles. He says that when the duck boat capsized, people aboard the riverboat tried to guide the passengers to safety. He says he saw a woman holding on for «dear life» to one of the riverboat’s paddles before being rescued.
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1:20 p.m.
The National Weather Service issued multiple severe weather warnings in the hours before a duck boat capsized in southern Missouri, killing 17 people.
Meteorologist Kelsey Angle says a severe thunderstorm watch was issued for the area around 11:30 a.m. Thursday. The watch indicated that conditions were favorable for the formation of severe thunderstorms with winds reaching 70 mph.
The Weather Service then issued a severe thunderstorm warning at 6:32 p.m. for the three southwest Missouri counties that include Branson and Table Rock Lake. It followed up with a statement at 7:02 p.m. that 70 mile-per-hour winds were possible.
The first 911 calls about the boat capsizing were reported seven minutes later.
Wind gusts in the Branson area reached 50 to 60 mph.
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12:55 p.m.
The mayor of a southwest Missouri city that was the scene of a deadly duck boat accident says she was with the wife of the vessel’s driver when she was notified that he had died.
Branson Mayor Karen Best says Bob Williams was driving the Ride the Ducks boat that sunk Thursday night in Table Rock Lake, killing 17 people. She says Williams, also known as Capt. Bob, was a «great ambassador for Branson» and «was at every event.»
She says Williams’ wife learned of her husband’s death at City Hall where victims’ families had gathered.
Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader has said the boat’s captain survived.
Mourners have been leaving flowers on cars in the parking lot of the duck boat’s business.
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12:10 p.m.
The mayor says residents of and visitors to the southwest Missouri city where a duck boat capsized, killing 17 people, have been donating food, drinks and flowers.
Branson Mayor Karen Best says it’s been a «difficult time» since the Ride the Ducks boat sank Thursday night in Table Rock Lake on the outskirts of Branson, but that it’s given the tourist community a «chance to step up to help those in pain.
