11 dead after tourist boat sinks
NEW YORK: At least 11 people were killed on Thursday night when a tourist boat capsized in a southern Missouri lake as powerful thunderstorms passed through the Midwest, authorities said.
The amphibious boat, or duck boat, overturned in Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri, about 7pm as winds exceeded 100km/h.
Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said that the boat sank to the bottom of the lake and that seven passengers were taken to a hospital. Two people were in critical condition at Cox Medical Center Branson late on Thursday. Divers were searching for missing passengers, and the sheriff said that would continue overnight.
A sheriff’s deputy was on the scene when the accident happened and was assisting in the rescue, the sheriff said.
The boat capsized because of severe weather, Mr Rader said, adding that he believed that all the fatalities were caused by drowning.
The Southern Stone County Fire Protection District said on Facebook that 20 or more people were on the boat, and local news outlets quoted Mr Rader as saying there were 31 people on board.
Ripley Entertainment owns the boat, having acquired the Ride the Ducks attraction in Branson last year. Duck boats can float on the water and drive on land.
Suzanne Smagala-Potts, a spokeswoman for Ripley Entertainment, said this was the first time an accident had happened at this location. “Our thoughts are first and foremost with the families,” she said.
Family members of missing people believed to have been on the boat were directed to go to Branson City Hall.
Becca Blackstone, a manager of an Irish pub in Branson, said the duck boat tours are popular with tourists, and she has ridden them four times in her decade of living there. She said the tours, which usually last from an hour to 90 minutes, take tourists to land destinations like the College of the Ozarks and then onto the lake.
“It’s just a lot of fun, normally,” she said in a phone interview. “It’s nothing like this. And with them going out in the storm, I don’t necessarily know what that’s about because it’s not like we didn’t know about
this storm.” She said that in the times she went on the duck boats, people were not required to wear life jackets.
Ms Blackstone said the accident was the “craziest thing” that had happened in the area since a tornado hit several years ago.
The episode was the result of a storm system that meteorologists said had passed across much of the Midwest on Thursday.
Steve Lindenberg, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s office in Springfield, Missouri, about 60km north of Branson, said a line of thunderstorms rattled
the area on Thursday night and produced winds of up to 100km/h. The winds downed trees and power lines, he said.
Mr Lindenberg said a strong gust was recorded at Branson’s airport about 6.55pm local time, although he did not know whether the winds had caused the boat to capsize.
Rod Donavon, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Des Moines, Iowa, said several tornadoes swept through the central part of that state on Thursday, apparently damaging a warehouse, homes and other structures.