Salvage crews recover the duck boat from the bottom of the lake where 17 died last week.
Just days after a duck boat sank, killing 17 people near Branson, Missouri, the former head of the National Transportation Safety Board called for a ban on using the crafts for tourism or pleasure cruises.
The push for a ban came after the boat sank in rough conditions caused by a sudden storm on Table Rock Lake. There were two duck boats on the lake at that time, only one was able to navigate the wind and high waves an make it back to shore.
The boat, which carried 31 people, is based on a World War II military landing craft that known as DUKWS. They were originally designed to spend only a short amount of time in the water. However, since the end of the war, many have been modified to be used for tours occurring on land and water.
They have a poor reputation, despite being overseen and inspected by the Coast Guard. The boat in the most recent event passed inspection earlier this year. Video footage of the incident shows the boat struggling in the conditions, which was enough for Hall.
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The Ride the Ducks attraction in Branson, Missouri, takes tourists in the water.
“My feeling after seeing this one is that the only thing to do in the name of public safety is to ban them,” former NTSB Chairman Jim Hall told USA Today. “I think it’s the responsible thing to do to ensure (riders) are not put at risk.”
Hall, who served under President Bill Clinton, said duck-boat tours are essentially unregulated amusement park rides, a charged leveled by others in the past because the boats, which are really best described as “amphibious vehicles” are neither truly a boat or a truck.
He added Table Rock Lake sinking was similar to a 1999 duck boat incident that killed 13 people in Arkansas. After that incident and investigation, the NTSB recommended duck-boat operators install additional flotation devices to ensure the low-riding vehicles would stay afloat even if their engines and bilge pumps stopped working, USA Today reported.
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Divers recovered a video recorder from the boat that will be analyzed at an NTSB lab in Washington D.C. It is uncertain if the contents are salvageable or if it was even working at the time of the sinking. It’s also unclear if there was any audio recording capability within the device.
The Ride the Ducks attraction also takes people on land through the hills and woods near Branson.
There is a salvage operation underway to bring the boat up from the bottom of the 80-foot-deep lake. Once the boat is recovered it will turned over to the NTSB so it can continue its investigation. There is no timetable for the operation or the query about the cause of the sinking.
Federal officials have issued warnings for nearly 20 years about the dangers posed by amphibious tour boats, which have inconsistent and contradictory safety regulations because of their dual-purpose function. Adding to the problem is that operators often make changes to the vehicles, such as lengthening them or adding canopies and see-through vinyl “walls,” allowing them to operate in bad weather.
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In its analysis of the 1999 duck-boat sinking, the NTSB said the Coast Guard failed to adequately oversee the private operation, and that the owner failed to properly maintain a seal, allowing water to seep aboard the vehicle.