Duck boat that sank in deadly accident is raised from lake in Missouri
The duck boat that capsized and sank last week on a sightseeing cruise was raised from a Missouri lake Monday, more than three days after the accident that killed 17 people near the tourist town of Branson.
Footage from Springfield, Mo., television station KYTV showed a crane attached to a barge pulling the duck boat from Table Rock Lake and another boat pushing the vessel toward shore.
The boat , which was submerged in 24 metres of water, went down Thursday evening after a sudden thunderstorm generated near-hurricane strength winds.
Divers attached a sling to the boat, then raised the vessel. Once it was brought to the surface, it was drained, Coast Guard Capt. Scott Stoermer told reporters.
The vessel will be loaded onto a vehicle and transported to a facility where the National Transportation Safety Board will take custody of it, Stoermer said.
Nine of the people who died belonged to one Indiana family. Others killed came from Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois. Seven survivors were taken to a Branson hospital, where the last patient was discharged Sunday.
Mandi Keller, who was not aboard the vessel, told The Kansas City Star that the survival of her 15-year-old daughter, Gillian Collins, and eight other relatives was a “complete miracle.” They were the only family aboard in which no one died.
Missouri State Highway Patrol chaplain Steve Martin said the family’s survival was “remarkable” and that there is no explanation for it. He said the relatives, who found safety in different ways, were suffering from survivors’ guilt.
Divers have recovered a videorecording device that was aboard the boat, although it’s unclear whether it was working when the boat capsized or whether any data can be retrieved, including audio. The recorder was headed to the NTSB lab in Washington, D.C.
None of those aboard were wearing flotation devices. Missouri law requires boat passengers ages seven and younger to wear life jackets on the water, but commercial vessels are exempt. They are required only to have enough flotation devices for all passengers and crew, and life jackets that fit every child on board, said Lt. Tasha Sadowicz of the U.S. Coast Guard.