A dive team has recovered the final four people missing after a tourist boat capsised in the US State of Missouri, bringing the death toll to 17.
Divers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol were still looking for four missing people, Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said in a news conference on Friday.
The accident happened at about 7 p.m onThursday (0000 GMT Friday) on Table Rock Lake, a dammed body of water in a resort region of south-western Missouri near the Arkansas state line.
There were 31 people on board the boat when it was hit by stormy weather. Winds reportedly topped 100 kilometres per hour around the time of the sinking.
A video showed the boat nearly submerged in choppy water.
Several survivors were hospitalised.
The boat – known as a “duck boat,’’ used for sightseeing tours on both land and water went down in about 12 metres of water, Rader said.
Divers have now located the sunken boat in another part of the lake that is 25 metres deep, and could raise it later on Friday, he said.
The accident scene is near Branson, Missouri, a popular Midwestern entertainment hub.
Country music stars and other acts often perform in residence in the city’s dozens of theatres.
Rader said that staff and passengers on board a nearby dinner cruise show boat called the Branson Belle, including one of his own off-duty deputies, had tried to mount a rescue effort.
He called their efforts “very outstanding’’.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
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