Guide · Safety

Ketchikan duck tour accident? What to know about safety

Many people search for a Ketchikan duck tour accident after hearing about duck boat sinkings elsewhere. Here is what happened in 2018, what changed, how the Ketchikan duck runs and how boarding works.

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Editorial team, ketchikan-duck-tour.comUpdated October 16, 2026read in 6 minutes9 sources

The tour this guide is about Ketchikan: Duck Tour by land and water 4.7 (2,977 reviews) 1.5 hoursA bus and a boat in one90 minutes, seated from$79per person Check availabilityPrice per Viator, live

Quick answer

01The 2018 sinking: It happened on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri.¹
02Ketchikan's duck: Coast Guard certified and inspected, says the operator.²
03Water: Calm, protected Inside Passage waters, not open sea.
04Weather: The operator can cancel for bad weather.
05Boarding: A short ladder; guests stay seated the whole tour.

Why people search for a Ketchikan duck tour accident

If you have typed Ketchikan duck tour accident into a search box, you are probably thinking of the duck boat sinking that made national news. That accident happened far from Alaska: the Stretch Duck 7, a modified World War II-era DUKW, sank during a storm on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri.¹ Of the 31 people aboard, 17 died.³

It is a sobering record, and it is right to ask about safety before you climb into any amphibious vehicle. The useful questions are concrete ones: what went wrong in that case, what has changed since, how the Ketchikan duck operates and what you can check yourself on the day. This page answers them in that order, using the investigators' own findings and the operator's own terms. Where a question cannot be settled from those sources, it says so and tells you whom to ask, because a safety answer is only useful if it is true for the vehicle you are about to board.

One thing helps from the start: the Ketchikan duck runs a short harbor route, not a lake crossing in open country. The operator keeps the water section in the calm, protected waters of the Inside Passage and does not go into the open ocean. That does not make any vehicle risk-free, but it is a very different setting from the one in the Missouri accident.

From accident to rules

What happened, and what changed

2018

Sinking in Missouri

The Stretch Duck 7 sank in a storm on Table Rock Lake.¹
Toll

Lives lost

Of 31 people aboard, 17 died.³
Findings

Probable cause

Tours went on after a severe thunderstorm warning.⁴
Findings

Design

Rules did not require enough reserve buoyancy.⁵
Rules

Bilge alarms

DUKW vessels must carry at least 4 of them.⁶
Rules

Watertight check

A DUKW is checked in the water before each departure.⁷

What the investigators found

The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the sinking in detail. It found the probable cause in the operator's continued operation of waterborne tours after a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for the lake.⁴ In plain words, the vessel went out on the water when the weather warning said it should not have.

The board also named a contributing factor in the rules themselves: the Coast Guard's failure to require sufficient reserve buoyancy in amphibious vessels.⁵ Reserve buoyancy is what keeps a vessel afloat when water gets in, so this finding goes to the design of the vehicles, not only to one bad decision on one evening.

A third finding concerned escape. The board said the Coast Guard's action on emergency egress was ineffective on amphibious passenger vessels with fixed canopies, and that this contributed to the loss of life.⁸ A fixed roof can trap people inside a sinking vehicle, which is why canopies and side curtains became a focus of the rules that followed.

Two settings

The Missouri accident and the Ketchikan ride

Point	Missouri, 2018	Ketchikan duck
Waters	Table Rock Lake	Protected Inside Passage
Vehicle	Modified WWII DUKW	Coast Guard inspected amphibian
Weather	Toured after a storm warning	Operator may cancel
Ride	Lake portion of a tour	About 1.5 hours, town and harbor

Missouri details from the NTSB investigation; Ketchikan details from the operator and its listing.¹ ⁴ ²

Three checks

Weather, boarding, on board

Check 1

Weather

Before you leave the ship

Look at: The forecast
Operator: May cancel
You: Ask how they decide

Book the duck

Check 2

Boarding

At the ladder

Steps: A short ladder
Aids: Stay below
Seating: First come

Book the duck

Check 3

On board

Before the splash

Listen: To the briefing
Know: The exits
Keep: Children beside you

Book the duck

Decision helper

Is the duck right for your group?

Answer for the person most affected

Nervous about boats Cannot climb any steps Walks with a cane or walker Travels with young children Worried about storms

Usually fine

The water part stays in protected waters, seated throughout.

Choose another tour

Boarding is by a ladder; mobility aids stay below.

Often fine

The aid waits in a dry, secure area during the tour.

Fine with care

Children 3 to 12 ride on a child fare.

Watch the forecast

The operator can cancel for weather and then refunds or rebooks.

Contributing to the sinking was the Coast Guard’s failure to require sufficient reserve buoyancy in amphibious vessels.

National Transportation Safety BoardSource 5

What federal rules now require of DUKW vessels

After the accident, federal regulations set specific requirements for DUKW amphibious passenger vessels, the World War II-era type that the Missouri vehicle was built from. Among them, a DUKW must carry not fewer than 4 independently powered bilge alarms.⁶ Those alarms warn the crew early if water is getting into the hull.

The rules also require the watertight integrity of a DUKW to be verified through an in-water inspection at the start of each waterborne departure.⁷ Put simply, before every trip into the water the crew has to check that the hull is sealed. It is a routine check, but it targets exactly the kind of flooding that sank the Stretch Duck 7.

These particular rules apply to DUKW-type vessels. The Ketchikan operator describes its own duck as a Coast Guard certified and inspected amphibian that doubles as a boat and a bus.² If the build of the vehicle matters to you, ask the operator at check-in what kind of amphibian it is and how it is inspected; a reputable crew will be glad to explain.

Checklist

Safety and access before you go

Before the day

Everyone can manage the boarding ladder
Ask the operator about special needs
Remember tickets are non-refundable

On the day

Check the forecast
Listen to the briefing
Hand mobility aids to the crew at the ladder

Video

NTSB witness video of the 2018 Branson duck boat sinking

Nothing loads until you tap play.

How the Ketchikan duck operates

The Ketchikan ride is short and close to town. It lasts about 1.5 hours in total, part of it on the streets and part in the harbor. On the water, the duck runs along the Tongass Narrows past canneries, seaplane docks and the waterfront.⁹ The channel is a busy, sheltered working harbor rather than open water.

Weather decisions sit with the operator. It can cancel a departure for bad weather or because too few passengers have booked, and in that case it offers an alternative or a full refund. That matters for safety as well as for your plans: a cancelled tour on a stormy day is the system working, not failing.

Inside the duck, the rules are simple. Guests are seated for the entire tour, alcohol and smoking are not allowed on board and the guide talks you through the ride. Listen to the short briefing before the water section, and ask about the location of life jackets if it is not mentioned. Knowing where they are takes a moment and costs nothing.

Boarding, mobility and access

Boarding is by a ladder. Guests climb 9 steps, each about 6 inches high, to get into the duck, and they stay seated for the whole ride. The operator rates the tour as suitable for all physical fitness levels, but the ladder is the one point everyone in your group must be able to manage on their own or with light help.

Wheelchairs, walkers and strollers do not come on board. They are taken at the bottom of the boarding ladder, kept in a dry, secure area during the tour and returned at the end. For a guest who can climb the steps but walks with an aid, this works well; for a guest who cannot climb at all, the duck is not the right vehicle.

Service animals are allowed. There is no restroom on board, so plan a stop before you check in; restrooms are on the cruise pier and in the visitors bureau. If anyone in your party has specific needs, contact the operator before you book, because tickets are non-refundable once bought.

Your own safety checklist on the day

A few minutes of attention make any boat trip safer. Look at the sky and the forecast on the morning of your tour. If a storm warning is out and the duck still plans to go on the water, it is reasonable to ask the crew how they decide. In the Missouri case, the decisive mistake was going out after a severe thunderstorm warning.⁴

Once aboard, note the exits and how the roof and sides are built. Fixed canopies were a factor in the loss of life in Missouri, so it is sensible to know how you would get out if you had to.⁸ Keep bags small and out of the aisle, and keep children seated beside you rather than across the vehicle.

Above all, keep perspective. The duck tour listing alone carries 2,977 ratings, so a great many guests have taken this ride. Being informed is not the same as being afraid. Ask your questions, listen to the briefing and then enjoy the splash into the harbor like everyone else on board.

Ready to splash