ST. LOUIS, Mo. – We are learning more about the final moments before a duck boat sank on Table Rock Lake. The newly released NTSB report has a timeline of events.
Video and audio recordings from inside the boat show the conditions on the lake went from calm to deadly in a matter of minutes. The tourist boat was only on the water for five minutes before passengers could see the dangerous storm moving in. Eight minutes after whitecaps emerged in the water, the video recording came to an end.
The SD card that holds the new information was salvaged by divers after the boat sank.
At 6:28 p.m., the crew was told to take the water portion of the tour first. One minute later, passengers began to load onto the boat, and the captain made mention of looking at the weather radar before the trip.
FOX 2 meteorologist Chris Higgins broke down the conditions before and during the boat ride last week.
At 6:32 p.m., a severe thunderstorm warning was issued by the National Weather Service in Springfield, which covers the area.
According to the NTSB report, the captain gave a safety briefing, showing people where the emergency exits and life jackets were and how to use the life jackets and life rings. When the boat entered the water at 6:55, the lake appeared calm.
Fast forward to 7:00 p.m., whitecaps started to appear and the wind rapidly increased. This is when the driver lowered the plastic curtains. He made a comment about the storm and at 7:04 p.m., an alarm that senses dangerous levels of water went off.
Investigators said the alarm stopped after the captain reached down and that’s around the time when water started splashing the passenger compartment. At 7:07 p.m., yet another alarm sounded.
It was one minute later the recording ended. At 7:15 p.m., EMS was rushing to the scene.
