11 Dead After Duck Boat Sinks During Storm Near Branson, Mo. At Least 5 Still Missing.

At least 11 people were killed when a duck boat capsized and sank Thursday night in Missouri, plunging dozens of passengers into a lake near the tourist city of Branson and setting off a frantic search effort.

Some of those who died were children, Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader told reporters in a briefing. Authorities warned that the scale of the tragedy could still grow, saying Friday morning that six people were still missing.

The boat had 31 people aboard — 29 passengers and two crew members — when it sunk into the waters of Table Rock Lake amid intense winds and thunderstorms, Rader said. Seven people were taken to the hospital, one of them with serious injuries.

The first 911 call about a duck boat sinking came in just after 7 p.m. Thursday, officials said, setting off an hours-long search effort in the water.

“This is going to be all night into tomorrow,” Rader said. “We’re still going to be working on this.”

Among the boat’s passengers was a sheriff’s deputy, who immediately assisted in the rescue effort, according to Rader.

The Missouri Highway Patrol Dive Team will take over the search on Friday morning from a county dive team that scored the waters Thursday night, officials said. Federal investigators are also heading to the scene. The National Transportation Safety Board said it would dispatch a team of “Go Team” investigators to the lake Friday morning to investigate what happened.

Rader said the boat sank due to the intense wind and thunderstorms. The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area during the period the boat sank.

“The winds were behind what is called a ‘gust front,’ ” reported weather blogger meteorologist Mike Smith. “There were also intense winds with the heavy rain when it arrived which would have decreased visibility to very low values.” Gusts of up to 70 or 80 mph were reported around the time of the sinking, he wrote.

The duck boat that sank was one of two still operating during the storm, Rader said. The boats were returning to shore when the incident happened, he said. Some of those on the capsized boat were able to swim to shore, the Kansas City Star reported.

Video captured by onlookers just before the incident showed two duck boats churning up and down through choppy waves, with water spraying in every direction.

One of the boats lags behind the other, nosediving into the waves. A speed boat can be seen driving up behind the duck boats.

“Oh my gosh, oh no,” a woman is heard saying in the background of the video. “Somebody needs to help them.”

“That duck, I don’t know if they’re going to make it back,” a man is also heard saying on the video.

Another video was captured by a passenger inside the other duck boat, which made it safely to shore. Footage from Paul Lemus published by local news outlets shows a number of adults and children inside the boat. Waves crash up against the windows, and the Showboat Branson Belle can be seen docked nearby, on the lake’s shore by Table Rock State Park. According to police, the call about the duck boat sinking said it was near the Belle.

The duck boat, which had life jackets on board, was owned by Ride the Ducks Branson, a tourism company that takes people on tours of the Ozarks through land and water using the amphibious vehicles. Ride the Ducks is a national duck tour operator with multiple locations across the U.S. and the Branson operation was purchased last year by Ripley Entertainment, Suzanne Smagala-Potts, a company spokeswoman, told The Washington Post.

Duck boat tours, which can be seen in cities from Washington to Seattle, have seen fatal accidents in the past in the water as well as on land. In what might be the deadliest incident, 13 people died in 1999 after a duck boat suddenly started taking on water while on a tour of Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Ark.

In 2015, a Ride the Ducks boat crashed into a charter bus on the Aurora Bridge in Seattle and five college students were killed. Dozens of people were also injured. Ride the Ducks International LLC agreed the following year to pay $1 million for violating federal safety regulations, according to the Seattle Times.

Smagala-Potts said the boat that sunk Thursday night marked the first time there has ever been an accident involving the duck boats in Branson. The company has been operating in the city for 40 years and is “a staple of Branson,” Smagala-Potts said.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic accident that occurred this evening at Ride The Ducks Branson,” she said. “This incident has deeply affected all of us. We will continue to do all we can to assist the families who were involved and the authorities as they continue with the search and rescue.”

The storm rolled in suddenly while Rachel Zerby was camping along the lake near where the duck boat capsized, she told The Washington Post.

“We have a clear line of sight to both across the water,” Zerby said. “I noticed most of the boats had left the water, but there were still at least two or maybe three ducks still near the Belle.”

The city of Branson opened its city hall for survivors and relatives of the sinking.

“This is a very tough night for us. It’s going to be a long night for a lot of people,” Melody Pettit, communications manager for the city, said during a press briefing. “It’s gut-wrenching.”

The city set up a command post inside its city hall, offering chaplains, psychologists and Red Cross services to families, Pettit said.

Originally created by the U.S. Army for use in World War II, DUKWs (called “ducks”) were amphibious trucks shaped like boats that ferried ammunition, supplies and equipment from offshore ships to troops stationed on beaches. In later years, they were modified for recreation and riding in duck boats has become a highly popular tourist activity.

Located about 20 minutes from Branson, Table Rock Lake is a popular destination for “watercraft aficionados,” according to its website. The lake stretches across 45,000 surface acres and 800 miles of shoreline.

Roger Brallier, who is a duck boat captain for Ride the Ducks Branson, told The Post that all of the captains are “very close.”

“Were it not for grace of God, it could’ve been me on the boat,” he said. “All of our hearts are completely broken right now.”

This story has been updated.

The boat sank just off shore near the Showboat Branson Belle. (Google Maps)