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Missouri Duck Boat Accident Kills 17, Including 9 From Same Family

17 killed in duck boat accident in missouri, a duck boat with 31 people on board capsized and sank to the bottom of table rock lake during a severe thunderstorm on thursday, resulting in one of the deadliest duck boat accidents in american history..

“There was actually a Stone County sheriff’s deputy on the boat. He was in the water rescuing people. There was also some of the staff from Branson Belle, I believe, trying to help rescue.”

By John Eligon ,  Timothy Williams ,  Mitch Smith and Karen Zraick

• July 20, 2018

BRANSON, Mo. — The image from Table Rock Lake that onlookers say they will never forget is the heads, one after another, bobbing in the wild, darkened water.

One would pop up on the surface and then disappear. There were so many of them amid the pounding waves — there one moment, and then gone.

As a boat packed with tourists capsized during a fierce storm in a popular summertime region of southern Missouri, Table Rock Lake was transformed into a desperate struggle for survival. Fishermen and other tourists in passing boats and on docks tried to pull people up, and some tried to administer C.P.R. People raced to throw life jackets out, but the unstopping wind seemed to toss the jackets back.

“It was a nightmare,” said Ron Folsom, a tourist from Fort Smith, Ark., who said he was on a dock along with dozens of other stunned onlookers. With all the wind, he said, “all you could hear was squeals and screams and hollering.”

Seventeen people were killed in the accident on Thursday evening , and seven others, including three children, were taken to hospitals. Officials said that the victims ranged in age from 1 to 76. It was one of the deadliest accidents involving a duck boat — modeled after the amphibious trucks used in World War II to move along land and water — in United States history.

Nine of those who died were members of a family from Indianapolis who had traveled to Branson for their annual road trip, according to Carolyn Coleman, who said two of her brothers-in-law were among the deceased. Two other family members on the boat survived, she said.

Ms. Coleman said the family had rented a van and driven from Indiana to Missouri earlier in the week. She said members of three generations of the family died, including four young children. “We just lost some wonderful people,” Ms. Coleman said.

Around Branson, a showy city that draws throngs of tourists to the Midwest, residents said the storm had come up suddenly on Thursday evening, only a short time after weather officials had issued warnings, and with a shocking ferocity.

“The wind picked up, they gave the storm warning,” said Michael Homan, a resident, “and then massive, straight line winds came out of nowhere.”

As the National Transportation Safety Board and the Coast Guard began investigations, the accident was raising new concerns about the safety of duck boats and about whether tourists should be passengers on them. After 13 people were killed when a duck boat sank in Hot Springs, Ark., in May 1999, the N.T.S.B. had called for sweeping changes to the way such tourist boats operate and are regulated. Once the boats take on too much water, the N.T.S.B. found at the time, they have a hard time staying afloat.

On Thursday evening, storms swept through the Midwest. Tornadoes damaged communities in Iowa. And in Branson, as a storm arrived, two duck boats were on Table Rock Lake, and both were returning to land at the time of the accident. “The first one made it out, and the second one didn’t,” Sheriff Doug Rader of Stone County said.

The National Weather Service’s office in Springfield, Mo., issued a severe thunderstorm warning at 6:32 p.m. for southern Missouri, including Table Rock Lake, about 35 minutes before the authorities received the first calls about the sinking of the boat. Weather officials said the storm entered the area with wind gusts up to 75 m.p.h., which were followed by heavy rain and lightning.

“We knew there was going to be the potential for severe weather and knew that in advance,” Jeff Raberding, a weather service meteorologist, said.

The boat that sank had life jackets, but the sheriff said he did not know if people were wearing them. Of the 31 people on board, 29 were passengers and two were crew members. The boat’s captain, who had 16 years of experience on the lake, survived and was taken to a hospital, but the authorities said the other crew member, whose job was to drive the vehicle when it moved onto land, died.

Online videos of Branson duck boat tours from recent years show life jackets stowed beneath the roof of the boats, within arm’s reach of an adult. But few if any patrons were wearing them on those trips.

The Coast Guard requires life jackets to be available for each passenger on a boat, including duck boats, but allows the crew to decide when to instruct passengers to put them on.

Jim Pattison Jr., the president of Ripley Entertainment, which acquired the Ride the Ducks attraction in Branson last year, said the boats were always stocked with life jackets, but that people were not required to wear them. The weather was calm when the boat left the dock on Thursday. Mr. Pattison said this was the first such accident at Ride the Ducks, which was started more than 40 years ago.

In an interview, Mr. Pattison said the company had policies in place to keep boats off the water during dangerous weather, but he was unsure of the exact threshold for aborting a tour. “I was told that it was calm” when the boat went out on the water, Mr. Pattison said. He said the boats typically spend 15 to 20 minutes in the water on a circular route through Table Rock Lake.

“This is a real tragedy, and we can’t say enough about how devastated we are,” Mr. Pattison said. “It’s hard to think about.”

Duck boats are modeled after DUKWs, which brought materials ashore during the invasion of Normandy and hauled howitzers during the landings in Iwo Jima. In the decades since, duck vehicles have been used to transport tourists in places like Philadelphia, the Wisconsin Dells and Branson.

Such boats have had mixed safety records over the years, both on water and land. In Philadelphia in 2010, a duck boat that stalled in the Delaware River was struck by a barge being towed by a tugboat, killing two people. On land, pedestrians and a motorist were killed in recent years in accidents involving the vehicles in Philadelphia and Boston. In 2015, a duck boat collided with a bus in Seattle, killing five people.

Critics say duck boats have avoided tougher safety requirements, in part because oversight for them is divided among various entities, including the Coast Guard, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the various state and city governments where the boats operate.

Before Thursday’s accident, the deadliest event involving a duck boat was the 1999 accident in Arkansas, when the Miss Majestic sank to the bottom of Lake Hamilton. The N.T.S.B. cited inadequate maintenance as the cause and ordered duck boat operators nationwide, including the company in Branson, to outfit their vessels with additional flotation devices to help prevent sinking.

The victims on the Miss Majestic drowned after they became trapped beneath the boat’s heavy canopy as the vessel took on water and eventually sank in 60 feet of water, the N.T.S.B. found.

The N.T.S.B. investigation found that the United States Coast Guard had failed to follow its own rules regulating the vessels. The agency’s report said that the Coast Guard had generally displayed a “lack of adequate oversight” and that its inspection of the vessel had been “inadequate and cursory.”

The likely reason for that sinking, according to the N.T.S.B., was that the vessel’s owner, Land and Lakes Tours, had failed to maintain the boat. The safety board also found that duck boats converted for passenger service lacked adequate buoyancy to stay afloat once they began to flood.

It issued a stern warning to operators of duck boats to fix the problem: “Without delay, alter your amphibious passenger vessels to provide reserve buoyance through passive means, such as watertight compartmentalization, built-in flotation, or equivalent measures, so that they will remain afloat and upright in the event of flooding, even when carrying a full complement of passengers and crew.”

It is not clear whether duck boat operators complied, and the Coast Guard, which regulates duck boats, did not respond to calls seeking comment.

In Branson, 70-minute rides take visitors past notable sights along city streets before plunging into Table Rock Lake. The rides are popular with children, who receive yellow duck whistles that make a quacking noise, and have long been a fixture of Branson itineraries, along with the Dolly Parton’s Stampede dinner show and roller coasters at the Silver Dollar City amusement park.

According to an archived version of the tour company’s website, the duck boats include “modern safety equipment” and “patented safety features that no other DUKW-style vehicle has.”

“So, relax and enjoy this unique experience,” the website said.

On Thursday, Curt Elleman, a tourist from Overland Park, Kan., was walking along the shoreline of the lake when the weather turned stormy. He saw two duck boats making their way through the waves. One began sinking.

“It started taking on water on the right rear,” he said. “And it just kept getting heavier and heavier.”

Panicked, people tried to help. Someone on a private pontoon boat pulled up a lifeless body, and raced to shore.

“It’s tragic and horrific to watch something like that,” Mr. Elleman said. “When you’re standing on land and something’s happening in the water, there’s not a lot that you can do.”

Around a bend in the lake, dock hands at a nearby marina rushed into the stormy waters after their manager said people needed help.

Todd Lawrence, 20, donned a life vest and hopped into a 24-foot tritoon with three other workers, and they set off on water that was rougher than he had ever experienced on Table Rock Lake, which he has boated since he was a toddler growing up in Branson. What he found around the bend in the lake was grim. He and his colleagues pulled an unconscious man from the water and tried to revive him. None of the people he or his co-workers pulled into boats were wearing life jackets.

“I don’t want to say 100 percent, but it’s really hard to drown with a life jacket,” he said, pausing as he stared silently at the ground.

John Eligon reported from Branson, Mo.; Timothy Williams and Mitch Smith from Chicago; and Karen Zraick from New York. Jacey Fortin, Julia Jacobs, Matthew Haag, Susan C. Beachy, Gabe Cohn and Matt Stevens contributed reporting from New York. Alain Delaquérière contributed research.

Duck Boat Tragedy: Three years since Duck Boat capsized on Table Rock Lake

BRANSON, Mo. (KY3) - Monday marks three years since a Ride the Ducks boat on Table Rock Lake capsized during a storm, sinking and killing 17 people on board.

On July 19, 2018, a Stretch Duck 7 duck boat with 31 people on board capsized and sank in stormy weather near Branson, Missouri.

Sixteen passengers, including nine from the same family and one crew member driving the boat, drowned that night, leading to one of the deadliest boating accidents in United States history.

In their initial assessment, authorities blamed thunderstorms and winds that approached hurricane strength. The duck boat sank under high waves while winds around the area reached up to 70 miles per hour that day.

Investigators say Ride the Ducks had plenty of warning about the severe weather, but the boat still launched more than 20 minutes after a thunderstorm warning was issued for Table Rock Lake.

THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

Three years later, people are still pushing for answers and working to come to terms with what happened.

On Friday, the Missouri Attorney General and Stone County Prosecutor filed 63 criminal charges against three employees on duty when tragedy struck. Captain Kenneth Scott McKee and two supervisors, Curtis Lanham and Charles Baltzell, all face a slate of felonies that include at least 17 criminal charges each.

Charges range from first-degree involuntary manslaughter to first-degree endangering the welfare of a child. The new charges come seven months after a federal judge dismissed charges filed by federal prosecutors, concluding that they did not have jurisdiction.

“There was a severe weather event already taking place. Based on his training and experience, he should have never gone in the water that day. There were also folks, the GM and the operations officer, who should have known better too, and the consequences here were incredibly tragic,” said Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.

An affidavit from a Missouri Highway Patrol sergeant accuses McKee of failing to exercise his duties as a licensed captain by taking the duck boat onto the lake in stormy conditions.

“We are reviewing the charges. Expect not guilty pleas will be entered and will continue vigorously represent Mr. McKee,” said J.R. Hobbs and Marilyn B. Keller, who represent the captain, via a statement Friday.

In January, Missouri U.S. Sens. Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley reintroduced federal legislation to improve the safety of duck boats. The bill would require the use of life jackets and equipping all duck boats to be more buoyant during emergency flooding.

“These common-sense safety measures, which are long overdue and need to go into effect immediately, will help prevent an incident like this from ever happening again,” said Sen. Blunt.

The U.S. Senate passed the bill during it latest go-around, but legislation has not made it through the House.

REMEMBERING THE TRAGEDY

For emergency responders, the scene that unfolded at Table Rock Lake remains vivid in their minds.

“Huge waves coming in, hitting that rock face and just going up that rock face. I’m just like ‘Wow.’ I’m like ‘I can see why a duck boat sank,’” said Mike Moore, Southern Stone County Fire Protection District Deputy Chief.

“It was chaos,” Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said. “One of the hardest things in the first 20 minutes there was trying to grasp ‘Where [are] all 30 of our people that were on this duck?’ It took a while to understand that they’d drown.”

Fire crews, police officers, paramedics, and state troopers flooded to the docking area of the Showboat Branson Belle, where the Ride the Ducks boat was supposed to get back on land. The boat capsized nearly 150 feet from that location.

“In almost 30 years of law enforcement, that was probably one of the most traumatic events I have been involved in,” said Rader. ” I had a deputy on [the Belle] who jumped in and helped save people and dragged the deceased out of the water. He’ll forever be affected by that. The emotional impact it made on everyone in this area, that tragedy will never be forgotten.”

Tia Coleman and her nephew are among the survivors, but she lost several family members in the accident.

“Keep us in prayer. We’re going to need it,” said Coleman days after the tragedy.

Attorneys for Coleman say she was disappointed when federal charges against the captain and attraction supervisors were dismissed last year, but she has renewed hope that the new charges filed by the state will bring justice for her and all the families impacted by the tragedy.

RESEARCH AND FINDINGS

Duck boats, like the one that capsized near Branson, were originally designed for the military, specifically to transport troops and supplies in World War II. They were later modified for use as sightseeing vehicles for tours that begin on land before going into water.

In November 2019, the National Transportation Safety Board released a “Safety Recommendation Report” on the accident. The report mentions that the U.S. Coast Guard had repeatedly ignored safety recommendations that could have made tourist duck boats safer and potentially prevented the tragedy.

CLICK HERE for the NTSB Safety Recommendation Report

The report is similar to one issued in 1999 after a deadly accident involving an amphibious vehicle in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Thirteen people were killed in that accident.

According to the report, the NTSB repeatedly urged the Coast Guard to require upgrades for the boats to stay afloat when flooded and to remove barriers to escape, such as canopies. The report found that a fixed canopy and closed side curtain impeded passenger escape, likely causing more deaths.

“Lives could have been saved, and the Stretch Duck 7 accident could have been prevented had previously issued safety recommendations been implemented,” said NTSB Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt in a November 2019 statement.

The NTSB says it recommended changes to 30 duck boat operators several years ago, but only one has made the recommended improvements.

In April 2020, the NTSB released findings of its investigation into the sinking of the Ride the Ducks vessel. Following the investigation, the Coast Guard agreed that canopies and side curtains should be removed from the duck boats, according to documents.

A lieutenant says the Coast Guard issued guidance in 2000, after an NTSB recommendation, urging inspectors and vessel owners to evaluate canopy design and installation. The guidance also recommended inspections of the design, sets, deck rails, windshields and windows “to ensure the overall arrangement did not restrict the ability of passengers to escape.”

An unrelated, internal investigation performed by the National Weather Service found that local meteorologists followed procedure necessary to ensure public safety on the night the duck boat capsized.

LOOKING BACK AND AHEAD

Robert Mongeluzzi, an attorney for survivor Tia Coleman, hopes the recommendations handed down by the NTSB in 2019 will finally be adopted by the Coast Guard.

“It is rare for one federal agency to really go after another. I was struck by how strongly the NTSB indicated that the Coast Guard just had not done the job they were supposed to do, which is protecting passengers and making safety first,” said Mongeluzzi.

Mongeluzzi says he and Coleman plan to meet with Coast Guard officials in the future to lobby for stricter laws and regulations.

“It was a very frustrating and emotional day for Tia Coleman,” said Mongeluzzi. “Her family would be alive if the duck boat industry had done their job and if the Coast Guard had done their job. Both of them have the blood of 17 victims here and two in Philadelphia on their hands.”

Ripley Entertainment, Inc., the company that operated duck boat rides in Branson, has settled 31 lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of the accident. The final lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount in January 2020.

A new duck boat tour company known as “Branson Duck Tours” is in the works several years after tragedy, but will not open until at least March 2022. The company’s operating manager, Jaredan Braal, says they plan to use amphibious “Hydra-Terra” vehicles for the tours.

Braal said the vehicles are aluminum and their hull is filled with foam. The manufacturing company’s website claims the vehicle is “unsinkable” and has been approved by the U.S. Coast Guard.

“We are heartbroken about the tragedy that happened there in the past. As we’re bringing this new company, we’re a safety first organization,” said Braal.

Ride The Ducks, however, has not operated in Branson since the tragedy three years ago.

ORIGINAL COVERAGE:

July 20, 2018

Branson mourns for 17 killed in sinking of packed duck boat

RELATED COVERAGE:

July 16, 2021

Stone Co. prosecutor, Missouri attorney general files 63 new charges against 3 in Ride the Ducks tragedy

January 28, 2021

Senators Blunt, Hawley reintroduce duck boat safety legislation

January 8, 2021

Man planning new Branson duck boat tour business details safety measures

April 28, 2020

Attorney for duck boat tragedy survivor, Tia Coleman, says she’s focused on change

November 13, 2019

NTSB: Coast Guard ignored duck boat safety proposals

July 19, 2019

First responders recall the duck boat tragedy, one year later

July 17, 2019

A year after tragedy, city of Branson debates future of duck boats

Copyright 2020 KY3. All rights reserved.

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NTSB: Missouri Duck Boat Sinking That Killed 17 Could Have Been Avoided

Scott Neuman

A duck boat sits idle in the parking lot of Ride the Ducks, an amphibious tour operator in Branson, Mo., in July 2018. The company has since closed. Charlie Riedel/AP hide caption

A duck boat sits idle in the parking lot of Ride the Ducks, an amphibious tour operator in Branson, Mo., in July 2018. The company has since closed.

The 2018 sinking of a duck boat on Missouri's Table Rock Lake that killed 17 people would likely not have occurred if the U.S. Coast Guard had acted on recommendations made after a similar tragedy more than two decades ago, NTSB investigators said Tuesday.

During a teleconferenced meeting of the National Transportation Safety Board ahead of the release of the agency's final report on the accident, investigator Brian Young also said the accident could have been avoided if the operator of the Ride the Ducks attraction had heeded weather warnings of an impending derecho .

9 Of Those Killed In Duck Boat Capsizing Were Related

"On the day of the accident, the National Weather Service accurately forecasted and issued timely notifications of a severe thunderstorm that would impact the accident location," an abstract of the yet-unpublished final report concluded. "Ride the Ducks did not effectively use all available weather information to monitor the approaching severe weather and assess the risk it posed to its waterborne operations."

About 35 minutes after leaving the dock near the resort town of Branson on July 19, 2018, Stretch Duck 7, a modified World War II-era landing craft known as a DUKW, was seen struggling to make headway through steep waves as it took on water. Of the 31 people aboard, 16 passengers — including nine from the same family — and one of the two crew members aboard drowned.

The National Weather Service has said that winds reached 65 mph on the lake at the time of the accident.

The boat's captain, Kenneth Scott McKee, survived the accident. He was indicted in November 2018 on 17 counts of misconduct, negligence and inattention to duty by a ship's officer. More charges were added to McKee's indictment in June of last year, when two other employees of Ride the Ducks of Branson — its general manager at the time of the accident, Curtis P. Lanham, and operations supervisor, Charles V. Baltzell — were also charged with negligence.

Duck Boat Tour's Final Minutes Chronicled In Preliminary NTSB Report

At the NTSB teleconference, investigators reiterated that failing to implement all 22 recommendations the agency made after a previous duck boat sank in Arkansas in 1999 , killing 13 people, contributed to the 2018 accident. All but nine of them were ignored, including a key recommendation to add "reserve buoyancy" to the boats, allowing them to stay afloat after taking on water. Among other problems with the design of the vessels, the NTSB said they had insufficient "freeboard" — clearance between the deck and the waterline.

"NTSB investigators found that the accident vessel was originally constructed with a low freeboard, an open hull, and no subdivision or flotation, resulting in a design without adequate reserve buoyancy. Additionally, the NTSB cited previous inaction to address emergency egress on amphibious passenger vessels with fixed canopies which impeded passenger escape from the Stretch Duck 7," investigators concluded.

The NTSB released an April 15 letter it received from Daniel Abel, vice admiral of the Coast Guard, in which the service agreed that canopies and side curtains should be removed from the boats.

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said duck boats should not be allowed to operate until the agency's recommendations are implemented. As of last year, more than a dozen duck boat tours were operating across the U.S. from California to Maine.

Sumwalt said he was "very optimistic" the Coast Guard was committed to improving small passenger boat safety.

Ripley Entertainment, which operated the now defunct Ride the Ducks of Branson, has settled 31 lawsuits filed by survivors or relatives of those who died, according to The Associated Press.

"We remain dedicated to working with the community of Branson, and continuing our support of all those who were impacted by the accident," company spokeswoman Suzanne Smagala-Potts said.

A look back at past deadly duck tour incidents

From a 1999 accident on an Arkansas lake to a 2016 crash in Boston.

Families are gathering in Branson, Missouri, to mourn the deaths of 17 people -- including children -- who were killed when a tourist duck boat capsized in a lake during severe thunderstorms Thursday night.

The crash in Table Rock Lake isn't the first time a duck boat tour has turned deadly. From a 1999 accident on an Arkansas lake to a 2016 crash in Boston, here are some previous fatal accidents involving duck boats in the United States:

1999: Arkansas

Thirteen people were killed when a duck boat with 21 people on board sank on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1999, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

The boat was about 7 minutes into its tour when it sank by its stern and plunged 60 feet to the bottom of the lake, the NTSB said. Seven passengers and the operator escaped.

The NTSB determined the cause of the accident to be inadequate maintenance of the vessel, which was built by the U.S. Army in 1944.

(MORE: 13 dead, including children in Missouri duck boat accident)

(more: how the missouri duck boat capsize unfolded amid weather warnings), 2010: philadelphia.

A tugboat-guided barge hit a duck tour boat on the Delaware River in 2010, killing Szaboolcs Prem and Doran Schwendtner, two Hungarian students who were visiting the U.S., ABC station WPVI in Philadelphia reported.

The tugboat pilot, Matthew Devlin, had been talking on his cellphone at the time and was sentenced to one year in prison, WPVI reported.

2015: Philadelphia

Elizabeth Karnicki, a tourist from Texas, was walking in Philadelphia during the evening rush hour when she was hit and killed by a duck boat in May 2015, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Karnicki's husband argued duck boats have large blind spots causing the drivers to not see pedestrians; he sued the company and the case was settled, The Kansas City Star reported.

2015: Seattle

Five college students were killed and many others were injured in a duck boat crash in Seattle in September 2015.

The boat was driving on Aurora Bridge when the axle broke, causing the driver to lose control and collide with a bus carrying college students, The Associated Press said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Ride the Ducks International violated the law by not telling regulators of a safety defect in the duck boats' front axle and by not issuing a recall, the AP reported.

Ride the Ducks International agreed to pay penalties, calling it "an unprecedented failure," the AP reported in 2016.

2016: Boston

Allison Warmuth was riding a scooter in Boston when she was hit and killed by a duck tour boat in 2016, according to ABC affiliate WCVB in Boston.

After the crash, duck boats in the city added second workers to all its tours, reported WCVB. The boats also added new equipment including an extra camera to the tours and banned drivers from narrating during the rides, WCVB said.

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Tourist boat capsizes, sinks on Missouri lake, killing 17

Updated on: July 20, 2018 / 5:27 PM EDT / CBS/AP

BRANSON, Mo. -- Seventeen people were killed when a duck boat packed with tourists capsized and sank in high winds on a Missouri lake overnight, Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader announced on social media Friday. The driver of the Ride the Ducks boat died but the captain survived when the boat sank Thursday night in Table Rock Lake in the Branson area, Rader said earlier at a press conference.

Authorities blamed stormy weather for the accident. Winds at the time were blowing as hard as 65 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Fourteen people survived, including seven who were injured when the boat went down, state police said. Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Jason Pace said those who died ranged in age from 1 to 70 years old.

• Official: 9 family members killed in duck boat accident

Jim Pattison Jr., the president of Ripley Entertainment, which owns the duck boat tour company involved in the incident, told " CBS This Morning " on Friday the boat "shouldn't have been in the water."

"I don't have all the details, but to answer your question, no, it shouldn't have been in the water if, if what happened, happened," he said when asked why the tour continued in such rough conditions.

Pattison said the duck boat had life jackets onboard but Missouri law doesn't require people to wear them.

"Usually the lake is very placid, and it's not a long tour," Pattison said. "They go in and kind of around an island and back, and we had other boats in the water earlier, and it had been a very sort of calm experience up until this came very suddenly."

Authorities were working to determine what happened and had no information about whether passengers were wearing life jackets or whether they were just stowed onboard, Rader said.

The sheriff said authorities plan to recover the boat later Friday. Rader said that he believes the boat sank in 40 feet of water and rolled into 80 feet of water. He said state police divers have located the vessel, which is on its wheels in the lake.

Duck boats, named for their ability to travel on land and in water, have been involved in other deadly incidents in the past. Five college students were killed in 2015 in Seattle when a duck boat collided with a bus, and 13 people died in 1999 when a boat sank near Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Safety advocates have sought improvements and complained that too many agencies regulate the boats with varying safety requirements.

The boats were originally designed for the military, specifically to transport troops and supplies in World War II. They were later modified for use as sightseeing vehicles.

Rader said the first call about the capsized boat came in at 7:09 p.m.

Passengers on a nearby boat described the chaos as the winds picked up and the water turned rough.

"Debris was flying everywhere," Allison Lester said in an interview Friday with ABC's "Good Morning America."

Lester's boyfriend, Trent Behr, said they saw a woman in the water and helped to pull her into the boat. He said he was about to start CPR when an EMT arrived and took over.

A spokeswoman for Cox Medical Center Branson said four adults and three children arrived at the hospital shortly after the accident. Two adults were in critical condition, and the others were treated for minor injuries, Brandei Clifton said.

Rader said an off-duty deputy working security for the boat company helped rescue people after the boat turned over. Dive teams from several law enforcement agencies assisted in the effort.

Suzanne Smagala with Ripley Entertainment said the company was assisting authorities. She said this was the ride's only accident in more than 40 years of operation.

In the hours after the accident, the lake was calm. But another round of thunderstorms passed within 10 miles of the area Friday morning, and more storms were forecast for later in the day, some severe, weather service meteorologist Jason Schaumann warned.

Weather can change rapidly in this part of the country, moving from sunshine and calm to dangerous storms within minutes, Schaumann said.

A severe thunderstorm warning had been issued for Branson at 6:32 p.m. Thursday, before the boat tipped over.

"Tornado warnings get a lot of publicity, and severe thunderstorm warnings should be taken very seriously too, particularly if you are in a vulnerable area like a lake or campground," he said.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to arrive on the scene later Friday morning.

President Trump expressed his condolences on Twitter.

"My deepest sympathies to the families and friends of those involved in the terrible boat accident which just took place in Missouri," the president said. "Such a tragedy, such a great loss. May God be with you all!"

My deepest sympathies to the families and friends of those involved in the terrible boat accident which just took place in Missouri. Such a tragedy, such a great loss. May God be with you all! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2018

Branson, about 200 miles southeast of Kansas City, is a popular vacation spot, offering entertainment ranging from theme parks to live music.

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Pittsburgh's just ducky tours ends season early, cancels all duck boat rides for rest of 2018.

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Just Ducky Tours has canceled the rest of its 2018 season, saying that business in Pittsburgh has fallen off after a fatal duck boat accident in Missouri and a train derailment near Station Square earlier this summer. (Scroll down for full statement)

"Unfortunately for our operation, we're defending our business as if we were the cause of that accident and that's simply not the case," said Michael Cohen, co-owner of Just Ducky Tours.

He added, "Google 'Just Ducky Tours, Pittsburgh accidents' and you will find nothing. There is nothing there, there is no data there, because we've always put people over profits."

The season was originally set to continue through Nov. 30, but Just Ducky Tours said it has ended early and they will "re-tool" for the 2019 season.

Based at Station Square, Just Ducky Tours takes customers on narrated rides around the city in amphibious vehicles. Each tour begins on land and eventually enters the river.

"We're good at what we do. We've been an ambassador to the city, and it will be sad if it goes away, but I know I'll hold my head high," said Cohen. "I got 2 million passengers, along with my business partner Chris (D'Addario), that we carried safely, and no one can take that away from me."

An automated message on the company's main phone line says that customers who have already scheduled a ride with Just Ducky Tours will be contacted.

Station Square itself is set to undergo an overhaul soon. Several stores have moved out of the Freight House ahead of the massive renovation project that will also bring a UPMC employee training center to the property.

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Below is the full text of a statement released by Just Ducky Tours on Wednesday.

Just Ducky Tours, Pittsburgh's only land and water tour, has decided to suspend operations for the remainder of the 2018 season as they re-tool for the 2019 season. Following the negative national press around the Branson, MO, duck boat accident in July and last month's train derailment in Station Square, Just Ducky Tours has seen a decline in business.

Just Ducky Tours has an impeccable 20-year safety record, unlike the 'Ride the Ducks' operations who operate in Branson and several other cities who have had several accidents over the past 20 years. Just Ducky Tours was the first to run amphibious vehicle tours with two operators on board -- a captain and a deck-hand. Just Ducky Tours operates only the original-designed, General Motors duck boats (length and width not modified) since they started operating in 1997. Just Ducky Tours runs vessels with canopies and side curtains designed specifically for easy exit in the event of an emergency, unlike 'Ride the Ducks' vehicles. All of the 'Ride the Ducks' vehicles have been modified -- their vessels are ducks that have been cut in half and extended to carry more passengers or a homemade vehicle that has been built on the chassis of an old truck called 'Truck Ducks.' Just Ducky Tours has maintained a very close relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard over the past 20 years, ensuring their vehicle structure and safety protocols meet or exceed strict guidelines. The U.S. Coast Guard has applauded Just Ducky Tours for their dedication to safety infrastructure and procedure.

"If you consider that we've safely toured nearly 2 million passengers on the streets and rivers of Pittsburgh in the past 21 years and then consider the many accidents associated with 'Ride the Ducks' and their affiliates, it appears that they are bad operators, and the rest of us are paying the price," said Chris D'Addario, co-owner of Just Ducky Tours.

"It is understandable that the accident in Branson would make people take pause before considering a duck boat tour, however we can stand on our flawless safety record over 21 years," added D'Addario. "When we are presented with difficult circumstances we always make the safe decision. We have canceled our tours hundreds of times due to unsafe weather or river conditions over the past two decades, and we will continue to follow best practices as they relate to our passengers and crew."

"The fact that a federal criminal investigation has now been open into the judgement and decision-making of a 'Ride the Ducks' operator, calls into question whether they’ve put profit over safety, which we have never done," concluded D'Addario.

Just Ducky Tours has been voted the Best City Tour in Pittsburgh by the City Paper Best of Pittsburgh Readers' Poll for the past five years.

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Cue the duck boats: Boston set for parade to salute Celtics’ record 18th NBA championship

Kyle Hightower

Associated Press

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum celebrates the team's NBA basketball championship during a duck boat parade Friday, June 21, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

BOSTON – The Celtics entered the season vowing to turn recent playoff heartbreaks into happiness.

Eight months later, they toasted the franchise’s 18th championship in what has become the signature Boston celebration, joined Friday by a huge crowd for a duck boat parade to mark the 13th championship won this century by one of the city’s franchises in the four biggest U.S. sports leagues.

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The Celtics, Patriots, Red Sox and Bruins have all commemorated championships by jumping aboard the duck boats — amphibious vehicles usually ridden by sightseeing tourists.

In Boston, firing up the boats for a slow cruise down city streets has become synonymous with its feeling of sports supremacy. Friday's parade was the latest component of what has been a rolling salute to the Celtics since they finished off the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the NBA Finals on Monday night.

Starting at TD Garden, the procession lasted about 90 minutes, turning first onto Causeway Street in front of the arena, past City Hall, through Boston Common, down Boylston Street and ending at Hynes Convention Center.

Along the way, there were plenty of moments for the city to salute a franchise that just broke a tie with the rival Los Angeles Lakers for the most titles in league history. Fans marked the moment by hanging on light posts, flashing homemade signs or standing on subway entrances.

“It’s unbelievable. It still doesn’t seem true. But just trying to stay in the moment,” All-Star Jayson Tatum said during a pre-parade rally at the Garden.

Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck gave fans an early treat about 90 minutes before the trade began.

He was attempting to drive to the arena with the Larry O'Brien Trophy and newly made 2024 championship banner along with his wife, Emilia Fazzalari, and their daughter.

They couldn’t get through because of traffic and barricades. So they walked a half-mile down Causeway Street, passing by a sea of fans while carrying the trophy and banner.

Inside the Garden, the rally included players and their family members, members of the Celtics organization, arena staff, season ticket holders and guests including Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

After celebrating in the locker room Monday night by spraying Champagne and posing for pictures with the trophy, the team flew to Miami for a private party.

When the Celtics returned Wednesday, coach Joe Mazzulla took the party back to people, allowing fans to see the trophy up close — and in some cases touch it — while he carried it through Boston’s famed North End.

“I drove all the way from Ohio (Wednesday) because we were coming for the parade,” Celtics fan Jason Hawkins told Boston’s ABC affiliate, WCVB-TV . “I touched trophy, man. I got video of it.”

The golden basketball was on display for all to see Friday as players, flanked by Celtics personnel and members of their families, waved and interacted with fans.

The Celtics broke every huddle this season by saying, “Together.”

Jaylen Brown said Friday the theme for this year’s team was unity.

“Whatever it took for us to win, that’s what I was willing to do,” Brown said.

As much as the day was a celebration of that team-first mantra that Mazzulla championed this season, it was also the culmination of mission that stars Brown and Tatum began after each was drafted third overall — Brown in 2016 and Tatum a year later.

The duo made it to four conference finals and one NBA Finals — a loss to the Golden State Warriors in 2022 — before finally reaching the league pinnacle. Brown earned Finals MVP honors, which he said also belonged to his “partner in crime.”

While the city had to wait nearly two decades for this celebration, the Celtics are in a solid position to try to become the NBA’s first back-to-back champions since the Warriors in 2018.

All five starters — Tatum, Brown, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Kristaps Porzingis — are under contract for next season. After having secured long-term extensions with Brown, Holiday and Porzingis, the Celtics are expected to do the same with Tatum and White this summer.

Reserve Luke Kornet didn't let fans forget the Celtics' history of titles, leading fans on a count from one to 18 at the end of the parade route.

Their message to the city is clear: Keep the duck boats gassed up.

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Decadent Moscow dive bar from pre-Putin era makes a comeback

If there was one place in Moscow that embodied the gold rush mentality of expatriates in the troubled Yeltsin era, it was the Hungry Duck, a dive bar that until it was shut down by the city in 1999 brought together profiteers, thugs with crew cuts, drifting students, émigré castaways and Russian women hoping to meet foreign men.

Thirteen years later, the bar’s former owner, Doug Steele, has brought back the Duck, as it is affectionately called, to a city that is barely recognizable. President Vladimir V. Putin’s rise to power brought stability and even a sense of glamour back to the capital after the economic crises and gangland shootouts of the 1990s. But some expatriates still recall the decade with nostalgia.

“We were gods then,” said Mr. Steele, 61, who now has a snow-white handlebar mustache and wears a knee brace.

“You can never recreate what happened then in the Duck, because it was a different political time. All those people hadn’t been allowed to do this stuff for so many years, so it was pent-up emotions being let out,” he said with hints of an accent from his native Nova Scotia. “Now you go outside, it’s Bentleys, Ferraris — everything has changed.”

Outlandish stories As the events of the 1990s passed into legend, nights at the Duck served as grist for articles, books and even an aborted screenplay. The stories were outlandish and often unverifiable: of barroom brawls where eyeballs were knocked out of their sockets, public sex in the booths and topless dancers falling off the bar, as well as the night that a troupe of entrepreneurial Mafiosi tried to kidnap Mr. Steele.

When he abandoned the bar in 1999, Mr. Steele eulogized the Hungry Duck with statistics: 2,000 lost passports, 79 arrests in a single police narcotics raid and eight bullets fired in the bar (five in the ceiling, three in the floor).

The Hungry Duck’s ladies’ nights, where men were let in only after the women had entertained themselves for several hours with free drinks, were seedier.

“It was a legendary scene and a legendary experience, but I had to massively medicate myself with legal and illegal drugs every time I went there just to deal with it,” said Mark Ames, the editor of The eXile, an irreverent English-language newspaper that chronicled Russian night life in the 1990s. “Everything in Moscow was a form of exploitation at the time. This was just a really unvarnished and obvious version of exploitation.”

By 1998, Russian national television had aired several exposés about the bar’s male strip shows. That year, one Moscow tabloid reported that a 14-year-old girl had been raped in the bar. Mr. Steele said it was untrue, but there was never a police investigation.

Soon after, there were injunctions from health, fire and tax inspectors in what Mr. Steele called a concerted political effort to bankrupt the bar. Parliamentary deputies, recounting a fact-finding visit to the Hungry Duck on the floor of the State Duma in March 1999, demanded in an appeal to “all patriotic Russians” that the bar be closed.

“They let in our young girls from 14 years old for free. They drink beer and dance on the bar,” said Anatoly Kotkov, a former deputy from the Transformation of the Fatherland party. “A black man comes out and does a striptease. He dances to the anthem of the Soviet Union. I think that the time has passed when we allowed that to be done in our country.”

Five days later the bar closed down.

In the decade that followed, Moscow’s night life was transformed by sleek clubs like Diaghilev, named for the dance impresario, where the young of the haut monde thrashed to bass-heavy electronica under laser lights. Moscow’s newly wealthy class of magnates followed the action from skyboxes that cost tens of thousands of dollars to rent for a night.

During that period, Mr. Steele said he had floated the idea of reopening the Duck, but “friends in the police” told him the bar was still a sore topic.

Today, the Hungry Duck has been reincarnated as a monument to itself — a carefully considered multitiered sports bar with industrial-chic trappings. The toilets are covered with kitschy Soviet propaganda posters, and the toilet seats are chained to the walls. There is a gift shop.

At the recent opening night party, a heavily male crowd of expatriate professionals kept one eye peeled hopefully on the oval bar — a holdover from the ’90s, when the crowd, mostly women, used it more for dancing than for drinking.

As the evening wore on, young women, among them the Duck’s press representative, clambered or were reluctantly pushed onto the bartop; some danced with bravado while others swayed unsteadily, occasionally leaning down for a swig of white wine. A bartender, tossing ice cubes in the air and snagging them in highball glasses, yelled through an orange plastic bullhorn at the dancing girls as a voice booming over the loudspeakers reminded them to “go nuts.”

Tanya, 25, stumbled down from the bar to take off her high-heeled shoes. She had never heard about the Hungry Duck or the bartop dancing before a pair of friends invited her that day, she said. “I just looked up at the girls and I thought, ‘I can dance better than they can,’ ” she said, taking a sip of rum and coke. “But it’s really slippery up there.”

This story, " ", originally appeared in The New York Times.