Deadly boat was warned

A PRIVATE inspector says he warned the company operating duck boats on a Missouri lake about design flaws putting the watercraft at greater risk of sinking less than a year before the accident that killed 17 people during a sudden storm.

Steve Paul, owner of the Test Drive Technologies inspection service, said on the weekend he had issued a written report for the company in August 2017.

It explained why the boats’ engines – and the pumps that removed water from their hulls – might fail in inclement weather.