NEW YORK (CBS News) – Authorities say 17 people are dead after a tour boat carrying 31 people capsized and sank on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, during a powerful storm Thursday. The National Weather Service reported wind gusts of more than 60 mph. Tourist Trent Behr was on a nearby boat at the time. He says people jumped into the water to help save one woman. “We got one of the life carriers, one of those things we got her in there and pulled her up, and I was yelling for people to get CPR,” said Behr. Jim Pattison Jr., the president of Ripley Entertainment, which owns the duck boat tour company involved in the incident, 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. According to Pattison, the boats do have life jackets on board but passengers are not required to wear them by law. “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 added that the captain of that particular boat had 16 years of experience with the company, Ride the Ducks. “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. President Donald Trump tweeted about the accident Friday morning. “My deepest sympathies to the families and friends of those involved in the terrible boat accident which just took place in Missouri,” said Trump. “Such a tragedy, such a great loss. May God be with you all!” My deepest sympathies to the families and friends of those involved in the terrible boat accident which just took place in Missouri. Such a tragedy, such a great loss. May God be with you all! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2018 “Our thoughts and prayers are with these family members,” said Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Friday. “We as a state will do everything within my powers to make sure they all have the resources here they need.” (© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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Death Toll Rises To 17 In Fatal Boat Accident In Missouri
