USA TODAY International Edition
NTSB: Duck boat captain in Mo. referenced weather
Federal agency builds timeline from recording
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The captain of the duck boat that sank this month in a thunderstorm, killing 17 passengers, made reference to the weather prior to taking passengers out on Table Rock Lake, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The NTSB released its initial review of the Branson duck boat’s onboard video recorder Friday afternoon. NTSB used the audio to construct a timeline.
The boat entered the water at 6:55 p.m. At 6:29 p.m., “the captain made a verbal reference to looking at the weather,” according to the NTSB’s review, which noted that the times in the video “have not yet been validated against local time.”
A thunderstorm warning was issued by the National Weather Service office in Springfield at 6:32 p.m. A watch had been issued several hours prior.
The duck boat captain, identified in a Missouri State Highway Patrol report as Kenneth McKee, “was told to take the water portion of the tour first,” the NTSB said, “by an individual who briefly stepped onto the rear of the vehicle.”
The driver (who was identified as Bob Williams by the patrol and was in charge of operating the vehicle on land) drove while the captain narrated. About 6:50 p.m., McKee delivered a safety briefing about the lake part of the tour.
“The briefing included the location of emergency exits as well as the location of the life jackets,” the NTSB’s initial report said. “The captain then demonstrated the use of a life jacket and pointed out the location of the life rings.”
McKee took over after that, and the boat went into the lake, at which time “the water appeared calm.”
In the five minutes after the boat hit the water, “the captain allowed four different children to sit in the driver’s seat, while he observed and assisted,” according to the NTSB.
By the end of that time, “whitecaps rapidly appeared on the water and winds increased,” the NTSB said. McKee got back into his seat, and Williams lowered the plastic curtains on the side of the boat, the NTSB said.
At 7:01 p.m., “the captain made a comment about the storm,” the NTSB said. Two minutes later, he made a call on a handheld radio.
At 7:04 p.m., “an electronic tone associated with the bilge alarm activated,” the NTSB said. The captain made a downward motion a minute later, and the alarm stopped.
McKee made another unintelligible radio call at 7:05 p.m., according to the NTSB. In the final minutes of the recording, “water occasionally splashes inside the vehicle’s passenger compartment,” and the bilge alarm tone sounds again. The inside video recording cuts out at 7:08 p.m., at which time the vehicle was still on the lake’s surface, according to the NTSB.