TRAGIC ACCIDENT: 17 tourists dead in Missouri ‘duck boat’ accident

TRAGIC ACCIDENT: 17 tourists dead in Missouri ‘duck boat’ accident
By Alexandra Coulton


17 sightseers have died after a duck boat capsized in Branson, Missouri on Thursday, marking the deadliest accident of its kind in two decades.

31 people were onboard the amphibious vessel when a severe thunderstorm hit causing intense wind and waves.

According to CNN, the people who died in the incident were not wearing life jackets. Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader, told CNN that there were life jackets on the boat but passengers weren’t required to wear them.

One of the 14 survivors, Tia Coleman, told KOLR that the captain mentioned life jackets but assured the passengers that they wouldn’t need them.

“When that boat is found, all those life jackets are going to be on there because nobody pulled one off,” she said.

Coleman lost 9 family members in the accident. The victim’s ages ranged from 1 to 76.

“I felt like, if I was able to get a life jacket I could have saved my babies because they could have at least floated up to the top and somebody could have grabbed them,” she told reporters.

The New York Times described scenes of fisherman and other tourists in passing boats trying to rescue the passengers, some even performing CPR.

“It was a nightmare,” said Ron Folsom, a tourist from Fort Smith, Ark., told theTimes. 

“All you could hear was squeals and screams and hollering.”

The accident has sparked fresh concerns over the safety of duck boats and whether tourists should be allowed on them.

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