Last week, a duck boat sank due to a storm, causing 17 to die. Now, a private contractor hired to inspect the duck boats, Steven Paul, said that he had seen a problem in the sunken boat that could have caused problems and informed the operator.
Steven Paul examined the boat in August 2017 and found a problem with the exhaust which was in front of the vessel. As he said, the exhaust needs to come out past the passenger compartment.
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As he said to CNN, in the duck boat that sunk, the exhaust was coming out the front and going down below the water line, with the waves pushing water up in that exhaust. If water would get in the exhaust, the engine would eventually stop.
Mr. Paul informed the operator of this issue and highlighted that the regulation of duck boats has to be changed.
Salvage operations, coordinated by ‘Ride the Ducks’ and overseen by the US Coast Guard, successfully removed the sunken duck boat that was located off the stern of the Showboat Branson Belle.
After the vessel was removed from the water, it was placed on a flatbed trailer and will be taken to a secure location where the National Transportation Safety Board will take custody of it.
