The captain of the duck boat that capsized in Missouri last week, killing 17 people, knew the weather report before taking passengers out on Table Rock Lake, according to preliminary findings issued by the National Transportation Safety Board, reports ABC News.
But the NTSB, which issued its preliminary findings on Friday, said, “as such, no conclusions regarding the cause of the accident should be made from this preliminary information.”
A digital video recorder system was discovered on the boat, but the audio quality “varies widely throughout,” per the NTSB.
Still, officials were able to construct a timeline and said that at 6:29 p.m., the captain "made a verbal reference to looking at the weather.”
The National Weather Service office in Springfield, Mo., had issued a thunderstorm warning at 6:32 p.m., that day, and a thunderstorm watch had been issued several hours prior.
The captain, identified in a Missouri State Highway Patrol report as Kenneth McKee, "was told to take the water portion of the tour first," the NTSB said, "by an individual who briefly stepped onto the rear of the vehicle."
The other person is not identified.
Bob Williams, the driver in charge of the land portion of the tour, delivered a safety briefing about the lake portion at about 6:50 p.m.
"The briefing included the location of emergency exits as well as the location of the life jackets," the NTSB report said. "The captain then demonstrated the use of a life jacket and pointed out the location of the life rings."
The boat entered the water at 6:55 p.m., and white caps "rapidly appeared" at 7 p.m. The captain made a radio call at 7:03 p.m., but the NTSB said the content was "unintelligible."
Former NTSB chairman Jim Hall last Monday said duck boat tours should be banned, calling them unregulated amusement rides.
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