ST. LOUIS (AP) – Video and audio recordings from a fatal tourist boat accident in Missouri show that the lake went from calm to deadly dangerous in a matter of minutes, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.
The NTSB cited preliminary findings gathered from the video recorder camera system salvaged by divers after the duck boat sank July 19 at Table Rock Lake near Branson. Seventeen of the 31 people on board died, including nine family members from Indianapolis.
The material was examined at a lab in Washington, but the agency has not yet analyzed the findings and no conclusions about the cause of the accident, one of the nation’s worst maritime accidents in recent decades, can be drawn.
The findings, though, paint a chilling picture of the final few minutes before the boat went under.
The captain and driver boarded the vessel at 6:27 p.m. The excursion begins on land at a terminal in Branson. Normally, the vessel tours the popular country music and entertainment community first before going to the lake for about a 20-minute boat ride. The driver drives the vehicle on land, and the captain takes over on the water.