KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A federal grand jury has indicted two more employees of a company that owns a duck boat that sank on a Missouri lake last summer, killing 17 people.
The U.S. attorney's office says the Branson operation's general manager, 36-year-old Curtis Lanham of Galena, Mo., was indicted on misconduct and neglect charges. The manager on duty, 76-year-old Charles Baltzell of Kirbyville, Mo., also was charged.
Steve Smith, 53, and his 15-year-old son, Lance, both of Osceola in northeast Arkansas, were among the 17 people who died when the tour boat sank. Smith's daughter, Loren, then 14, was among the 14 survivors.
The 47-count indictment was unsealed and made public Thursday by the Springfield, Mo., grand jury after the men's initial court appearances.
The boat's captain, Kenneth Scott McKee, was indicted previously on charges alleging that he failed to properly assess the weather and failed to tell passengers to put on flotation devices as weather conditions worsened.
The amphibious vehicle he was piloting sank in Table Rock Lake near Branson after it set off on a lake tour, despite severe weather warnings at the time.
Metro on 06/21/2019