Lawmakers from Missouri eye duck boat safety after Table Rock Lake deaths

July 25--WASHINGTON -- Sen. Claire McCaskill said Tuesday she is drafting legislation aimed at "design issues" in duck boats, one of which sank Thursday in Missouri's Table Rock Lake near Branson, killing 17 people.

McCaskill, D-Mo., described the boat as a "sinking coffin," and said her legislation -- which is in a very preliminary stage -- would also be aimed at grounding boats with similar designs that can operate on land and water.

The Senate on Tuesday was also preparing to fast-track two nominees to the National Transportation Safety Board whose approval had been held up in protracted political battles over many nominees of President Donald Trump.

The president spoke Tuesday at a VFW convention in Missouri and extended his condolences to the Table Rock Lake victims' families in that speech.

McCaskill predicted that federal investigations into the sinking at Table Rock could take a year or more.

"We've had 40 deaths associated with the duck boats since 1999, yet there has been little done to address the inherent dangers of these amphibious vehicles," McCaskill said in a speech on the Senate floor.

Prior to that, her Missouri colleague, Republican Roy Blunt, in his own Senate floor speech did not suggest a legislative response, but did say he would closely monitor federal investigations.

Both senators told personal stories of the victims.

McCaskill said that in past investigations, the NTSB found "contributing factors" to be "the lack of buoyancy that would have allowed the vehicle to remain afloat in a flooded condition, the lack of oversight by the Coast Guard, and also the canopy."

"When these vehicles are on water, the canopy serves as a trap," McCaskill said. "If they take on water ... people who are trying to get out have no easy way to escape."

McCaskill said that along with addressing design, her legislation would be aimed at requiring "the boats that are not compliant be taken out of service until they can be compliant."

Blunt said he would be closely monitoring whether federal safety overseers had learned and acted after previous accidents involving the boats.

"One of the things that certainly they'll be looking at is their investigation of a similar accident almost 20 years ago in Arkansas on Lake Hamilton," Blunt said. "And the questions would be, I think, did the Coast Guard do what they were supposed to do? Did the equipment do what it was supposed to do? And certainly we'll be looking carefully at the report and to decide what needs to happen as a result of that report."

Any legislative response should be based on the facts that come out of the investigation, he said.

Blunt said he insisted that rescuers, including teenagers who swam to try to help the victims, be offered mental health counseling.

"If you're a 16-, 17-, 18-year-old young man, you think everything is OK," Blunt said. "But we were insistent they try to have the mental health counseling they needed, along with the families and survivors that were there."

The duck boat that sank was built in 1944, and was part of a fleet of amphibious vehicles designed for use in World War II. Its most recent inspection was completed in November 2017, Coast Guard spokeswoman Alana Miller said.

Steve Paul, who inspected the duck boat for compliance with Department of Transportation standards, told the Post-Dispatch that the duck boats of today aren't the same as the duck boats used in World War II. The vessels are now longer and wider than the original duck boats.

"Back in the World War II days, yeah, you'd pile a bunch of people on it, but they were on there for two minutes," Paul said. "They were designed to get from ship to shore as fast as possible, not drive around town, get in the water, get back out and put people's lives at risk." Paul owns Test Drive Technologies in Breese, which provides prepurchase vehicle inspections and appraisals.

The Associated Press reported that the "Stretch Duck 07" had a few apparently minor problems in recent years. It "lost steering while underway on Table Rock Lake" in 2011, the news service reported, with 30 passengers aboard. But the driver was able to direct it back to shore, the AP said, citing federal records.

Coast Guard records also show that in 2015, water got into the engine compartment as the boat went from land to lake. Inoperable heat detectors were fixed after a 2016 inspection.

The most serious citation came in 2015, the AP reported, when the Coast Guard prohibited the vehicle from operating between January and April of that year because of "hazardous/unsafe condition." The Coast Guard report did not go into further detail, according to the news service.

Paul said he issued a written report in August 2017 to the Branson duck boat operator, Ripley Entertainment, after inspecting two dozen boats. In the report, he explained that the vessels' engines -- and pumps that remove water from their hulls -- might fail in inclement weather.

Janelle O'Dea of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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