Leak Reported Earlier in Lake Tragedy Boat
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — The boat that sank in an Arkansas lake with the loss of 13 lives may have suffered a leak two days earlier, safety investigators said Sunday.
The amphibious vehicle of World War II vintage--called a “duck” because it travels both on land and water--sank rapidly after entering Lake Hamilton on Saturday. Passengers panicked and scrambled for life preservers.
Twenty-one people were on board, including the operator.
National Transportation Safety Board member John Hammerschmidt told reporters that when the boat was used Thursday, two days before the accident, the larger of two bilge pumps automatically activated, indicating that the vessel was taking on water.
He quoted the operator of the boat, Beth Hambrick, as saying the pump activated because of a leak in a rubber “boot” designed to waterproof the vessel’s drive shaft. Hambrick told investigators she had been assured that repairs had been made.
Hammerschmidt said the boat’s owner, Land and Lake Tours, had not been questioned yet.
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