Ride the Ducks Issues Statement Regarding Capsized Branson Boat Accident

Suzanne Smagala-Potts, spokesperson for Ripley Entertainment, the company that owns Ride the Ducks Branson, released a statement Friday regarding a capsized duck boat that left 17 dead, and several more missing.

In a statement Thursday, Suzanne Smagala-Potts of Ride the Ducks Branson, said the company was devastated by the tragedy.

“This incident has deeply affected all of us,” Smagala-Potts said. “We will continue to do all we can to assist the families who were involved and the authorities as they continue with the search and rescue.”

She added: “The safety of our guests and employees is our number one priority.”

Jim Pattison Jr., the president of Ripley Entertainment, told “CBS This Morning” on Friday the boat “shouldn’t have been in the water.”

“I don’t have all the details, but to answer your question, no, it shouldn’t have been in the water if, if what happened, happened,” he said when asked why the tour continued in such rough conditions.

“This business has been operating for 47 years and we’ve never had an incident like this or anything close to it. To the best of our knowledge – and we don’t have a lot of information now – but it was a fast-moving storm that came out of basically nowhere is sort of the verbal analysis I’ve got,” Pattison said.

A Branson Duck Boat Capsized During a Storm in Missouri, Leaving 17 Dead

A popular tourist amphibious duck boat capsized Thursday evening with more than 30 people, including children, on board in a lake near Branson, Missouri. 17 fatalities have been confirmed, and all passengers are now accounted for. Divers worked late into the night looking for missing people in the dark, jet-black water, and found the rest of the victims Friday afternoon.

Rescuers called off the search around midnight, with five people still missing. The dead range in age from 1 to 70, according to Stone County sheriff Doug Rader. Of those rushed in the hospital, at least three are under the age of 18.

Rader said in a news conference that the victims perished from drowning. Seven people were taken to the hospital; two of the wounded are in critical condition, according to a local hospital. The boat carried 29 tourists and 2 crew members.

“This is going to be an all night and into tomorrow, we’re still going to be working on this,” the sheriff said. Family members should go to Branson City Hall for information, he said. “I believe it was caused by the weather,” the sheriff added of the tragedy. “It capsized and sank…The duck is still in the water… it sank.”

According to Pattison, the boats did have life jackets on board but passengers are not required to wear them by law. He said that the lake is normally very calm, and the company had ducks out all day before the storm hit, according to CBS News.

“Usually the lake is very placid and it’s not a long tour, they go in and kind of around an island and back. We had other boats in the water earlier and it had been a great, sort of calm experience,” Pattison said.

He also mentioned that the captain of that particular boat had 16 years of experience with the company.

“You know, they have a very good record. So, again, this seems to be sort of almost a micro storm effect of something that no one was expecting to happen the way that it did,” Pattison said.

Videos Have Surfaced That Shows the Duck Starting to Sink

Disturbing video shows the duck boat struggling against heavy winds when a thunderstorm ripped across Table Rock Lake in Missouri. You can listen to live scanner audio here.

“Major Wind causes major incident on Table Rock Lake, Branson Ride the Ducks Capsized 30 people in the water, Other Boater Problems, Showboat Branson Bell Staging Area and State Park over 6 fatalities, Divers Searching. Also other area damage,” the scanner audio caption on Broadcastify said. However, the reports of fatalities are not yet confirmed. Be aware that conflicting information often emerges in the early stages of breaking tragedies.

The boat was reportedly underwater late Thursday night and couldn’t be seen from the surface. It carried 31 people, authorities said, and appears to have flipped over as a line when thunderstorms struck the area.

Dispatch audio captured response from law enforcement as the scene was unfolding.

“Need a water rescue. Will be north of the show boats. Will be a duck that has capsized. We have approximately 30 individuals in the water,” a dispatcher says in the early scanner audio of the tragedy. You can listen to the early scanner audio above.

Rescue efforts are still underway as first responders continue searching for victims after the boat capsized and sunk to the bottom of the lake.