LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. (AP) -- With only one crewmember and just a passenger shy of its capacity, a tour boat that flipped over in an upstate New York lake and killed 20 elderly tourists may have been doomed by a combination of events, police said.
Late Monday, the state suspended the operating certificates for all five boats run by tour company Shoreline Cruises, including that of The Ethan Allen, which sank Sunday afternoon during what was supposed to be a relaxing, one-hour fall foliage tour for a group of senior citizens.
The suspensions followed the determination that The Ethan Allen carried only one crewmember, 74-year-old Capt. Richard Paris, according to Wendy Gibson, spokeswoman for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
The Ethan Allen has a maximum capacity of 50 people _ 48 passengers and two crew, Gibson said. Commercial boats in New York that carry between 21 and 48 passengers must have two crewmembers.
''If that's the case, there's going to be a problem, and it looks like that's the direction this is headed in,'' said Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland.
State officials originally suspended the certificates for two small boats similar to The Ethan Allen _ The de Champlain and The Algonquin _ but Gibson said they had expanded the suspension to include The Adirondac and The Horicon. Those larger cruise ships carry 400 and 200 guests, respectively, compared with the smaller boats that carry between 30 and 50 people.
Shoreline Cruises did not return messages left at its office Sunday and Monday.
Police also said a wave and a sudden shift of passengers' weight on long benches may have factored into the capsizing.
Investigators will take ''weeks, not days, potentially months,'' to study the accident, Cleveland said.
''The bottom line is, any one of these little factors could not have upset the boat,'' he said. ''If four or five of these came together, it's possible.''
The boat was rated for 50 passengers based on the Coast Guard standard of 150 pounds per person. Cleveland said with Americans growing fatter, that standard may have to be revised. Following a commuter plane crash that killed 21 people in 2003 in North Carolina, the FAA temporarily changed its weight guidelines for passengers and luggage.
Cleveland cautioned not to draw conclusions from the suspended certificates.
''I do not believe there is any criminal culpability on any of the parties we have spoken with,'' he said.
State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett said investigators do not know what initially caused the Ethan Allen to tip. But he said passengers either slid or were thrown to one side of the boat after it began lurching.
''And that, of course, would automatically mean an even bigger shift of weight,'' Bennett said.
The captain of the 38-foot glass-enclosed boat told authorities it was hit by waves from at least one other vessel and turned over as he tried to steer out of them, authorities said. The boat flipped so fast that no passenger could put on a life jacket. Forty-six passengers were from Michigan, with one from Ohio.
There was no immediate confirmation that another boat that could have churned up strong waves was in the area, and survivors gave investigators differing versions of what happened before the boat went down in calm, sunny weather, authorities said.
Eight people were hospitalized with shortness of breath, broken bones and other injuries.
On Monday afternoon, crews using inflatable bags raised the sunken boat 70 feet to the surface. Orange life vests could be seen floating inside. National Transportation Safety Board investigators will examine the wreck once it's pumped out and towed to shore.
New York state regulations require that life jackets be made available for every person on a boat, but people do not have to wear them.
Only Colorado, Indiana and New Hampshire require adults to wear life preservers when a boat is motion, said Melissa Savage of the National Conference of State Legislatures. No state has special laws governing boaters who are elderly or infirm.
The Lake George Park Association and the sheriff's department are responsible for enforcing safety on the lake, and they may reconsider the rules governing crew size and life jacket use, particularly when elderly or infirm passengers are involved, said James Hood, a spokesman for the association.
''It seems like a logical question or at least something to review,'' Hood said.
A survivor, 76-year-old old Jeane Siler of Trenton, Mich., said she saw a wake coming and the boat turned into it. She said she stood up and jumped or was thrown into the water, where she found herself surrounded by other passengers. She suffered broken bones in her spine, a broken finger and bumps on her head.
Virgil Chambers, executive director of the National Safe Boating Council, an organization for recreational boaters, said investigators probably would examine how weight was distributed within the boat.
''If all the people were on one side, maybe to look at something, and if the operator were to take the boat over a wave at a particular angle, it could cause the boat to roll,'' Chambers said.
The captain was not tested for drug or alcohol after the accident. The sheriff said he had no legal grounds for administering such a test. The sheriff also said Paris had a state license, rather than a Coast Guard one, which would have required a test for drugs or alcohol.
The boat was last inspected in May and no problems were found, state officials said.
The fiberglass-hulled Ethan Allen was built in 1966 by Dyer. New York state records on the vessel go back to 1983 and show no problem with it, according to Gibson of the parks department. Paris, a retired state trooper, has his master license and has been licensed to operate a public vessel since 1986.
A woman who answered the door at Paris' house and identified herself as the captain's wife said he was out of the house and would have no comment.
___
Associated Press writers Candice Choi and Matt Smith in Lake George and Glens Falls, Mike Hill in Albany and JoAnne Viviano in Detroit contributed to this report.
