KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Charges have been filed against the captain of a tourist boat that sank and killed 17 people, including nine people from an Indiana family, in a southwest Missouri lake over the summer, federal prosecutors said on Nov. 8.
McKee is accused of not properly assessing the weather before or after the boat went into Table Rock Lake near the tourist town of Branson, U.S. Attorney Tim Garrison said during a news conference in Springfield. Ripley Entertainment, the company that operated the boats, suspended operations following the accident.
The boats were originally designed for military use in World War II but had been refurbished as a tourist attraction.
A spokeswoman for Ripley Entertainment has repeatedly declined to comment on the investigation but has said the company has cooperated with authorities.
The vessels first take tourists on a trip through Branson, a Midwestern destination for country music shows and entertainment venues about 170 miles (274 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, Arkansas. The amphibious vehicles then travel to Table Rock Lake for a short excursion on water.
Weather was calm when the vessel known as a Stretch Duck 7 began its trip on July 19, but investigators have contended that operators had ample warning that a strong storm was approaching.
Video and audio from the boat, recovered by divers, showed that the lake was calm when the boat entered the water. But the weather suddenly turned violent and, within minutes, the boat sank.
The wind speed at the time of the accident was more than 70 mph, just short of hurricane force, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Weather forecasts had warned of an impending storm with winds possibly exceeding 60 mph.
The wave height wasn’t known, but cellphone video shot by passengers on a nearby excursion boat showed waves that appeared to be far greater than 2 feet (0.61 meters) high.
On May 1, 1999, 13 people died when the Miss Majestic duck boat sank on Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs, Arkansas. In 2015, five college students died and more than 70 people were hurt when a duck boat veered into a charter bus on a bridge in Seattle. Two Hungarian tourists died in 2010 when a stalled duck boat was struck by a tugboat-guided barge on the Delaware River in Philadelphia.
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