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Branson Mayor, Fire Chief Discuss Last Summer’s Duck Boat Tragedy, What's Next For Community

St. Louis Public Radio | By Evie Hemphill
Published July 23, 2019 at 4:58 PM CDT
Seventeen people lost their lives in last summer's duck boat tragedy on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri.
Paul Sableman | Flickr
Seventeen people lost their lives in last summer's duck boat tragedy on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri.
Seventeen people lost their lives in last summer's duck boat tragedy on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri.
Credit Paul Sableman | Flickr
Seventeen people lost their lives in last summer's duck boat tragedy on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri.

Last Friday marked the one-year anniversary of a tragic accident that killed 17 people near Branson, Missouri, one of the state’s biggest family-vacation destinations. The drownings occurred when a Ride the Ducks boat capsized and sank on Table Rock Lake in neighboring Stone County.

On Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air, Branson Mayor Edd Akers and Fire Chief Ted Martin talked with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jeremy D. Goodwin. They looked back on the day of the tragedy and also discussed efforts to support victims and their families and bring healing to the Branson community.

Listen to the conversation:

“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Alex Heuer, Emily Woodbury, Evie Hemphill, Lara Hamdan and Alexis Moore. The engineer is Aaron Doerr, and production assistance is provided by Charlie McDonald.

Send questions and comments about this story to feedback@stlpublicradio.org.

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Missouri News
Evie Hemphill
Evie Hemphill joined the St. Louis on the Air team in February 2018. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English literature in 2005, she started her career as a reporter for the Westminster Window in Colorado. Several years later she went on to pursue graduate work in creative writing at the University of Wyoming and moved to St. Louis upon earning an MFA in the spring of 2010. She worked as writer and editor for Washington University Libraries until 2014 and then spent several more years in public relations for the University of Missouri–St. Louis before making the shift to St. Louis Public Radio.
See stories by Evie Hemphill