Tourist-boat horror in Mo.
At least 11 people, including children, were reported dead Thursday after a tourist “duck boat” capsized and sank during a thunderstorm on a lake in Branson, Mo.
The amphibious watercraft was swamped by massive waves and flipped over at about 8 p.m.
Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said that in addition to the 11 fatalities, five people were missing among the 31 aboard the Ride the Ducks boat.
He did not have details about the all deceased, but officials confirmed the dead included youngsters.
“It capsized and sank,” Rader said of the boat, which remained underwater early Friday morning.
A video of the incident taken from another vessel showed two duck boats foundering in heavy winds as a storm lashed Table Rock Lake near the popular tourist and entertainment town.
Witnesses dining on cloth-covered tables on the larger boat gasped in horror as whitecaps made the small duck boats bounce wildly as waves broke over their bows.
The video ended before it was clear which of the two duck boats sank.
The National Weather Service tweeted that wind gusts of 63 mph were reported at 7:30 p.m. at Branson Airport.
“It’s pretty intense here,” a voice at the scene could be heard over a police dispatch broadcast, according to the Kansas City Star.
“I’ve got probably 55mph winds here . . . and heavy rains.”
Rader said an off-duty deputy from his department had been at the scene when the boat went under. He credited the deputy with rescuing as many passengers as he could.
“We do have some people still missing so this is going to be all night into the morning we’re going to be working on this,” the sheriff said.
Some of the survivors were able to swim to shore, according to the Star.
A spokeswoman for Cox Medical Center Branson said four adults and three children arrived at the hospital shortly incident.
Two of the adults were in critical condition; the others were treated for minor injuries, the spokeswoman, Brandei Clifton, said.
Multiple dive teams from law-enforcement agencies were involved in the rescue-and-recovery effort.
“It's going to be a challenging night and tomorrow,” the sheriff said.
In 1999, 13 people were killed after a duck boat they were in sank near Hot Springs, Ark..
In 2010, two students from Hungary died on a duck boat on the Delaware River in Philadelphia when a sludge barge towed by a tugboat slammed into the tourist vessel.
And in 2015 in Seattle, five college students were killed when a similar boat riding on land collided with a bus. after the