LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. – The captain of the tour boat that capsized Sunday, killing 20 elderly tourists on a fall foliage tour, said the 47 passengers aboard that day was a bigger group than most of the tour bus trips he piloted.
Richard Paris (search), 74, told The Associated Press on Friday he was used to seeing tour buses with 30-35 people disembark at the Lake George (search) pier before piling aboard the Ethan Allen.
He was at the wheel Sunday when the Ethan Allen flipped, spilling its passengers and Paris into the calm, 68-degree waters of this Adirondack lake. He initially told investigators he was trying to steer out of the wake of another boat.
Paris wouldn't discuss specifics of the accident but said: "They've had a pretty good description of the accident in the paper."
Federal investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (search) are looking at whether the boat was unstable or shouldn't have been certified to carry up to 50 people. They also are studying traffic on the lake that day and human factors.
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