Duck boat tragedy "storm came out of nowhere" BS

[Industrial Toys]

Sometimes it's complacency. Our weather reports are highly unreliable. How many times had they maybe returned to shore for no good reason on account of poor forecasting? I can't believe it's just utter recklessness.

 

[Redbug]

All I can ask is did anyone put their life jackets on? It goes both ways...you have to be responsible for yourself as well. Those PFD's by law have to be easily accessible on charter type boats. Or maybe the windows and top prevented exit? I can say that if I were in heavy weather conditions my PFD would be on and no one would be telling me to do it. Did the crew do nothing?

 

[Streetcar]

Did that wind precede the actual precipitation that shows up on radar? If so, maybe they thought they had more time. We had a disaster at the Indiana State Fair a few years ago when severe wind out in front of the rain blew down an outdoor concert stage.

For the Indiana fair, the rigging company was found negligent in construction of t.he stage

 

[k0ua]

Sometimes it's complacency. Our weather reports are highly unreliable. How many times had they maybe returned to shore for no good reason on account of poor forecasting? I can't believe it's just utter recklessness.

No. Like I stated in my original post. anyone even with a small brain could have seen that storm line and have known better than to go out on the lake. The TV weatherman was screaming about the high winds, and the head indoors warnings. Yes it is utter recklessness, and they will suffer for it. I predict the duck boat business at least here in Branson, is DONE. Stick a fork in it. When they get all the lawsuits settled, they will have nothing left.

 

[k0ua]

All I can ask is did anyone put their life jackets on? It goes both ways...you have to be responsible for yourself as well. Those PFD's by law have to be easily accessible on charter type boats. Or maybe the windows and top prevented exit? I can say that if I were in heavy weather conditions my PFD would be on and no one would be telling me to do it. Did the crew do nothing?

From the reports I got locally the crew did all they could to hand out life jackets. Why 17 still drowned, I don't know.

 

[ruffdog]

From the reports I got locally the crew did all they could to hand out life jackets. Why 17 still drowned, I don't know.

A person wearing a floatation device under the enclosed canopy makes it hard to get out because you are stuck against the bottom as it sinks.

 

[MossRoad]

I predict this will be the end of "duck boat tours". Terrible tragedy.

Yeah, you'd have thunk that back when a bunch of people drown when one sank many years ago. Or that barge hit one a few years ago. Or that one that got in a wreck on a bridge a couple years ago....

 

[MossRoad]

One of those that drown was the boat captian/driver. They said he had something like 16 years experience.

 

[/pine]

One of those that drown was the boat captian/driver. They said he had something like 16 years experience.

16 years experience doing what?...running a duck boat on what is usually a fairly calm inland lake?
FWIW...
I grew up (literally) on the Gulf of Mexico shore and have spent a lot of time on the water...It's like I was told from onset..."it's not what the boat can take it's what the operator (captain) can take"...

It is a maritime law that any vessel carrying passengers for hire must be equipped with a VHF marine radio...all have pre-programmed weather channels...one of the first duties of a charter etc. captain is to listen to the applicable forecasts and inform their passengers of any possibly expected foul weather...

IMO...If the OP is correct and the NWS was issuing extreme warnings and they were being broadcast over the WX frequencies...the operators (actual pilots and their management) of the cited vessel will be found at fault...

 

[goeduck]

I live on the saltwater, and I ALWAYS know when storms are coming. They DO NOT come out of nowhere, they are easily tracked these days. It is not like decades ago.