Duck boat that killed 17 in capsize recovered

A DUCK boat that sank while carrying tourists on a southern Missouri lake during powerful winds, killing 17 people, has been raised to the surface.

Broadcast footage showed a crane attached to a barge pulling the Ride the Ducks boat from Table Rock Lake, before a boat pushed the vessel toward the shore. The boat sank in 80ft of water on Thursday night amid stormy conditions near the tourist town of Branson.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and US coast Guard are investigating what caused the boat to sink.

Nine of the people who died belonged to one Indiana family. Others killed came from Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois.

Divers already have recovered a video-recording device that was aboard the boat, although it is unclear whether it was working when the boat capsized or whether any data can be retrieved.

The recorder is being taken to the NTSB laboratory in Washington DC.

Steve Paul, owner of the Test Drive Technologies inspection service in the St Louis area, said he issued a written report in August 2017 for Ripley Entertainment, which owns Ride the Ducks in Branson, after inspecting two dozen boats.

In the report, he explained why the vessels’ engines – and pumps that remove water from their hulls – might fail in inclement weather.

Suzanne Smagala, of Ripley Entertainment, said the company is assisting authorities and that the accident was the company’s first in over 40 years.