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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1
Right People, Right Roles: Rubber Hits the Road!
2
5 Stunning Fall Hikes to Take This Season
2
How to Protect Your Child’s Safety at Daycare
3
Hot Meals, Hazardous Roads: The Delivery Boom’s Dark Side
3
Turkey and Hummus Collard Wraps With Coconut Curry Sauce
4
Recalling the 2018 Duck Boat Disaster
The choice of a lawyer is an important one and should not be based solely upon advertisements.
Remembering the Duck Boat Disaster of 2018 ALEX RECALLS A HISTORIC TRAGEDY
A few weeks ago, my wife took our kids down to Branson, Missouri, for an impromptu summer getaway. It was short, but those last-minute trips always seem to bring the best memories. When I went down to join them for a night, my oldest daughter asked me about duck boats. She had seen an advertisement, and she wanted to know more. As a history buff, I was glad to tell her the story. Our visit took place near the July 19, 2018, anniversary of the horrific duck boat incident on Table Rock Lake near Branson. The boat sank during a severe thunderstorm with 31 people on board. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated and found several problems — including the duck boat’s low freeboard (the space between the water line and the top of the boat), buoyancy issues, and fixed canopies that trapped passengers. Seventeen people lost their lives. Three employees of the duck boat company were federally indicted, but the charges were later dismissed because the lake did not meet the definition of a navigable waterway under federal admiralty law. The state brought charges in 2021,
but those charges were dismissed in 2022 by a Missouri judge who ruled that the facts did not rise to the level of criminal intent under Missouri law. The attorney general again brought charges, which are still pending.
Multiple civil wrongful death claims also were filed on behalf of family members. All 31 lawsuits brought against the duck boat company were settled for undisclosed amounts. The duck boat involved in the accident was a refurbished DUKW vessel built in 1944. DUKW was a military code representing features of these amphibious vehicles. They were used during World War II in the Normandy beach landing on D-Day, and also in the Pacific Theater. Later, the DUKW vehicles were redeployed in the Korean War. The U.S. Coast Guard in 2023 issued new safety mandates for amphibious vehicles, requiring safer canopies, life jackets for all passengers, and additional pumps and alarms on board. Meanwhile, the DUKW boats remain in use, in retrofitted formats, for various tourist attractions.
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