Coast Guard raises duck boat that sank in Missouri, killing 17

BRANSON, Missouri -- A duck boat that sank in southern Missouri, killing 17 people aboard, has been raised.

A crane that is attached to a barge pulled the Ride the Ducks boat from Table Rock Lake on Monday morning. A boat pushed it toward the shore.

The National Transportation Safety Board and U.S. Coast Guard are investigating what caused the boat to sink.

The boat went down Thursday evening in Table Rock Lake on the edge of the tourist town of Branson after a thunderstorm generated near-hurricane strength winds. The boat is submerged in 80 feet (24 meters) of water.

Nine of the people who died belonged to one Indiana family . Others killed came from Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois.

Divers already have recovered a video-recording device that was aboard the boat, although it's unclear whether it was working when the boat capsized or whether any data can be retrieved. The recorder is headed to the National Transportation Safety Board lab in Washington, D.C.

Keith Holloway, an NTSB spokesman, said it was unclear what the recorder captured, including whether it recorded audio.

Steve Paul, owner of the Test Drive Technologies inspection service in the St. Louis area, has said he issued a written report in August 2017 for Ripley Entertainment, which owns Ride the Ducks in Branson, after inspecting two dozen boats. In the report, he explained why the vessels' engines - and pumps that remove water from their hulls - might fail in inclement weather.

Paul said he won't know if the boat that sank is one that he inspected until it has been recovered from the lake.

Ripley Entertainment, which owns Ride the Ducks in Branson, hasn't responded to questions about Paul's concerns.

Suzanne Smagala with Ripley Entertainment, said the company is assisting authorities with the rescue effort and that the accident last week was the company's first in more than 40 years of operation in Branson.