Duck boat tragedy "storm came out of nowhere" BS

[ruffdog]

I’m sure a life preserver would have made all those people trapped under the cover feel better. I agree with not letting them run around and shift the boat around to get a useless device. Is there any word on how many people drowned outside the boat on the top of the water?

They have reported that none of the dead had a life preserver on.

 

[Industrial Toys]

So, did it capsize (which I think unlikely) or did it just take on water and sink? A report I saw suggested that the engines in these things could fail in heavy seas and incapacitate the bilge pump system.

 

[Liquidsilver]

Do you know/guess the distance across the body of water they had to cross?

Yes. The water is pretty wide at that part of the lake, but they don't cross it. That would take a really really long time with the slow speed of the ducks. They just take it in the water, motor around for about 10 minutes and come back to the ramp right next to the other ramp where the next one is splashing in.


The quote below breaks the case wide open to me:

Chicago Tribune article:
The water from Table Rock Lake in Branson, Mo., continued to rise and peopleç—´ heads bobbed above the water as it lifted them to the boatç—´ canopy. The windows trapped them inside, Cumberworth said.

When the top finally gave out, giving passengers the chance to escape, Alicia told her mother she felt the hands of her 64-year-old grandmother push her from below in the cold, deep water. Her grandmother痴 final effort propelled Alicia upward, Cumberworth said. With that push, Leslie Dennison helped save her only granddaughter, but she didn稚 survive. Dennison was among the 17 people killed when the tourist boat sank Thursday afternoon in a storm.

----
If that is an accurate statement, then the driver killed 100% of the fatalities by not having them in the MaeWest-style life preservers stored on board.

I saw the video. When it capsized, it happened between swipes of a cell phone camera. (Instant)

Just such a waste.

 

[MossRoad]

This video news report says the captain released the canopy right before it sank, allowing some to get out. Don't know if it's true or not, but that's what the report says.

Video of duck boat's final moments show it struggling to stay afloat - YouTube

 

[Industrial Toys]

How can it capsize when that low in the water, unless, quite possibly the wheels filled with air want to flip that thing over, which would be a truly ugly trait of that particular boat/truck "thing".

 

[MossRoad]

How can it capsize when that low in the water, unless, quite possibly the wheels filled with air want to flip that thing over, which would be a truly ugly trait of that particular boat/truck "thing".

Once the heavy side becomes the light side.... over it goes.

 

[Industrial Toys]

You mean top vs bottom? At first, I thought, with that heavy undercarriage, it should be bottom heavy, but the air in the tires may negate that.

 

[4570Man]

They looked like regular truck tires. The flotation of them would’ve be significant.

 

[Sigarms]

Anyway you cut it, a vessel like that should NEVER of been able to leave the dock with ANY chance of storms coming into the area.

What I'm trying to figure out is during the first sign of the storm heading in, why didn't the "captain" of the vessel just head to land, ANY piece of land?

Get in with a crowd of panicked people and it really doesn't matter how good of a swimmer you are. First rule in rescue diving when you have your gear on is to subdue the person, THEN try to reason with them. A panicked person in water who can't swim will only take you down with them if they can grab ahold you. All those people on the boat going down... payout is going to be big, as well as it should be.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Seems like a piss poor design. I read that they are a poor compromise both as vehicle or boat. Something the Military might use once and throw away, and if some men drown, well ain't war helll. But to put into widespread tour service, just boggles my mind.

I don't remember if it was for tanks or trucks, but there was some crazy system to make them amphibious, which failed in the surf at D day, killing soldiers.

I used to have an 8WD Diesel ARGO, an amphibious vehicle. Basically a plastic vacume formed bath tub. It had no floatation and thinking about it now, I bet it would end up upside down as well if swamped.