NTSB: Lives could have been saved in Branson tragedy if Coast Guard followed guidance
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that lives could have been saved when a duck boat capsized in a thunderstorm on Table Rock Lake if the U.S. Coast Guard had followed safety recommendations from 18 years ago.
NTSB investigators discussed with board members their nearly two-year investigation into a 2018 disaster near Branson when a Ride the Ducks tour vessel sank, killing 17 of the 31 people on board.
The sightseeing tour started on Table Rock Lake just ahead of the arrival of a severe thunderstorm on July 19, 2018. The thunderstorm barreled down on the lake with winds exceeding 70 miles per hour, more than twice what the duck boat was designed to handle.
The NTSB in 2002 issued safety recommendations to the U.S. Coast Guard for duck boats — World War II-era vehicles that can travel on land and on water — that included removing overhead canopies and increasing reserve buoyancy on the boats. Those recommendations came after a duck boat called Miss Majestic sank on a lake in Arkansas in 1999, killing 13 people.
“Staff believes (Coast Guard regulation) NVIC 101 did not effectively address NTSB’s 2002 recommending the removal of...fixed canopies and likely increased the number of fatalities” on Table Rock Lake, said Michael Karr, who investigates survival factors for the NTSB, during a video conference with NTSB board members Tuesday morning.
The Coast Guard did not adopt those recommendations, the NTSB said, adding that the duck boat on Table Rock Lake likely would not have sunk if it had reserve buoyancy — a watertight system to keep boats afloat.
“There were many similarities between that sinking and the one that we are considering today,” said NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt. “The NTSB issued several recommendations in connection to the sinking of the Miss Majestic that were never acceptably acted upon.”
The U.S. Coast Guard just last week issued a recommendation to duck boat owners that they remove canopies and side curtains to help passengers escape in the case of an emergency. Compliance is voluntary on the part of the duck boat owners, however.
Robert Mongeluzzi, a lawyer who represented families of some who died on Table Rock Lake, said removing canopies would have been a simple procedure done years ago.
“Wouldn’t cost them anything,” Mongeluzzi told The Star. “Everyody on board would have a PFD (personal flotation device) on and every one of those victims would be alive today.”
NTSB’s findings
The NTSB board unanimously approved a set of 19 findings from the investigation into the Table Rock Lake disaster. Key among them were findings that Ride the Ducks in Branson should have had guidance for its operations team to suspend water tours when weather turns severe.
There had been a severe thunderstorm watch issued by the National Weather Service late in the morning of July 19, 2018, for the Branson area. About the time the duck boat started its water tour, the thunderstorm watch turned into a warning, indicating that a storm was imminent and approaching.
Video taken from passengers on the nearby Showboat Branson Belle showed the storm battering the hapless duck boat as its captain unsuccessfully tried to steer Stretch Duck 7, as it was known, to the exit ramp.
The NTSB investigation found that the captain’s efforts to save Stretch Duck 7 was complicated by a spring-loaded forward hatch. The loose forward hatch, the rough equivalent of a hood on a car, allowed three- to five-foot waves whipped up by the storm to rapidly pour water into the duck boat’s engine compartment.
The NTSB investigators said Stretch Duck 7 lacked proper compartmentalization that would have kept the flooding from moving to the rest of the boat. As a result, water cascaded into other parts, causing the boat to flood faster than a bilge pump could push water out of the vessel. That led to a rapid and uncontrolled sinking of Stretch Duck 7.
By comparison, Stretch Duck 54, another Ride the Ducks boat that was out on the water when the storm arrived, made it safely to the exit ramp. It was newer, had a stronger front hatch that kept water out of the engine compartment and had better reserve buoyancy.
One of the recommendations to Ripley Entertainment that the NTSB board approved on Tuesday was that it modify any spring-loaded front hatches so that they can be closed securely to prevent flooding.
Ride the Ducks has been closed since the tragedy.
The role of the captain
The captain of Stretch Duck 7, Kenneth Scott McKee, was able to release the side curtain on the left side of the boat but it sank so quickly that he was unable to release the right-side curtain to allow passengers on that side a quick exit.
A federal grand jury indicted McKee, 51, on charges of misconduct and negligence for his handling of Stretch Duck 7.
There was some initial disagreement among NTSB board members about whether to include McKee in its probable cause for why Stretch Duck 7 sank, coupled with no requirement for reserve buoyancy and removing the overhead canopy.
NTSB staff said they were not able to interview McKee because of a criminal investigation.
Marcel Muise, an NTSB marine investigator, said McKee did not have enough information to make a different decision about taking the boat on the water.
“When he arrived at the lake, from what he could see, the sky was blue,” Muise said. “We know from the camera that the lake was calm. We don’t believe that he understood the intensity or how fast the storm was moving.”
There were also three other duck boat tours on the water ahead of McKee’s boat.
“We understand from statements that the captain said the lake erupted, that he had never seen the lake get that rough that fast,” NTSB investigator Brian Young said. “Although he indicated in a state police interview he had looked at the radar, we don’t know the intensity of the storm or what he perceived to be the severity of that storm.”
While captains are generally viewed as being responsible for deciding whether to take a boat on the water, NTSB board members ultimately decided not to include McKee as the probable cause for Stretch Duck 7’s sinking.
“I think that, in terms of the probable cause of the accident it was a systemic issue, not the actions, not the individual actions of the captain that resulted in the accident,” said NTSB board member Thomas Chapman.
Ripley Entertainment
Ride the Ducks in Branson was operated by Ripley Entertainment. It had bought the Ride the Ducks operation in 2017, just months before the fatal sinking. The duck boat tours had been a well-known attraction at Table Rock Lake for years.
Sumwalt, the chairman of the NTSB, said he spoke with Ripley Entertainment management recently. He said in that conversation, Ripley Entertainment officials insisted that nobody had ever seen a storm like the one that descended upon Table Rock Lake in 2018.
“The fact they had never seen it doesn’t mean the hazards didn’t exist,” Sumwalt said. “Any severe thunderstorm has the potential for hail and damaging winds.”
Among the 17 who died, nine were from one family from Indianapolis. Tia Coleman was the sole survivor from her family on Table Rock Lake.
“For the victims — I’ll give you Tia, for example — it makes it even more difficult to know this is something the industry knew about, was warned about, and did nothing about for 15 years after the recommendation,” Mongeluzzi, the lawyer, said. “That makes the loss even more gut-wrenching and tragic.”
Another couple that died were taking a duck boat tour on their anniversary.
“We know we can never fully understand the pain and challenges the families who were affected by the accident have faced, but Ripley Entertainment has worked hard to offer help wherever we can,” said a statement on the Ride the Ducks website. “We are deeply committed to supporting these families.”
Several lawsuits have been filed against Ripley Entertainment; most have settled on confidential terms. Litigation against Ride The Ducks International and its parent company, Herschend Family Entertainment, remains ongoing, according to Mongeluzzi. Ride the Ducks International owned the operation in Branson before selling to Ripley Entertainment.
A spokesperson with Ripley Entertainment was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.
In closing Tuesday’s meeting, Sumwalt noted that amphibious vehicles like the duck boats evoked memories of World War II and the June 6, 1944, landing of U.S. forces on the shores of Normandy, France during what’s known as D-Day.
“What many people don’t know is the invasion was originally scheduled for June the 5th,” Sumwalt said. “They had to wait a day for better weather before they could proceed. Well, if D-Day had to pause for safety, so can recreational tours.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 11:20 AM.
