Heartbreaking account of woman who survived the wreckage of the Missouri boat

Branson, Missouri . "Catch the baby!"

Tia Coleman remembers these last words when her sister-in-law screamed before the tourist boat sank into a Missouri lake, killing 17 people, including nine members of Coleman's family.

The huge wave hit and scattered the pbadengers on the boat, to Table Rock Lake, said Coleman, recounting the odyssey of a hospital bed. When the woman from Indianapolis came out to catch her breath, she was alone. She prayed.

"I said," Lord, keep me please, so that I can reach my children, "said Coleman on TV KOLR

She discovered a lifeboat and swam as fast as he could.

Coleman's husband and three children ages 9, 7 and 1, his 45-year-old sister-in-law and 2-year-old nephew, stepmother, stepmother Her husband's father and uncle died Thursday night in the deadliest accident of its kind in nearly two decades.Other deaths include a Missouri couple who just celebrated a birthday; Missouri couple who were on what was planned as their last extended vacation: an Illinois woman who died saving the life of her granddaughter, a father and son of Arkansas, and a retired pastor who was the operator of the ship.

Federal and state investigators are trying to determine what sent the ship, cons originally trout for military use during the Second World War, to his demise. An initial badessment attributed thunderstorms and winds that approached the force of the hurricanes, but it was unclear why the amphibious vehicle even ventured into the water.

Coleman said that the crew told the pbadengers that they would go to the water first, before the land part of its course, because of the storm that is coming . The area had been under the surveillance of storms for hours and a severe storm warning for more than 30 minutes before the boat sank.

Suzanne Smagala with Ripley Entertainment, owner of Ride the Ducks in Branson, said that it was the only accident of the company in more than 40 years of operation. The company did not comment on the recount of the Coleman tour, which usually begins with a tour of downtown Branson, known for its shows and entertainment in the country, before the boat enters the lake. for a short walk.

The president of the company, Jim Pattison Jr., said that the captain of the ship had 16 years of experience and that the company was monitoring the climate.

Twenty-nine pbadengers and two crew members were on board. Fourteen people survived, including two adults who remained hospitalized on Saturday. Coleman and his 13-year-old nephew were the only 11 members of his family to board the boat to get out alive.

Alicia Dennison, 12, of Illinois, who says her grandmother, Leslie Dennison, 64, saved her from drowning. Alicia's father, Todd Dennison, told Kansas City Star that her daughter remembered having felt her grandmother under her, pushing her up after the boat rolled over.

Loren Smith of Osceola, Arkansas, 14 years old. She suffered a concussion, but her father, Steve Smith, a 53-year-old retired mathematics teacher, and his 15-year-old brother, Lance, died.

Other deaths include William Bright, 65, and his wife, Janice, 63 years old. The couple had recently celebrated his 45th wedding anniversary and had mentioned that Branson was one of their last big trips, recalled his neighbor Barbara Beck.

The couple moved to Higginsville, Kansas City, Missouri, three years earlier to be closer to a girl and her grandchildren, and they quickly embraced the life of the small town.

William Bright's last public message on Facebook was about the wedding anniversary and how happy he was with his wife, three children and 16 grandchildren. Life, he wrote, "was very funny."

William Asher, 69, and Rosemarie Hamann, 68, were killed in the accident. The couple from the St. Louis area celebrated Hamman's birthday earlier in the week. In a last photo of Facebook published by Hamann, he pulls his tongue and smiles.

"I can only imagine what they lived, they were so in love, it's just heartbreaking," said friend Russ McKay, who said he spoke Hamann the day before the accident.

McCay says that Hamann told him that the couple had just boarded a boat and that he intended to go back there. He does not know why they chose the amphibious boat.

Coincidence also brought the Coleman aboard the convicted ship.

Tia Coleman said her family initially queued for the wrong tour, so they had to change their She says the crew showed pbadengers where the lifejackets were, but said, " Do not worry, you will not need it, "Coleman said.

"She said," When this boat is found, all the lifejackets will be there, "said Coleman. "Nobody put them on."

The company's website had been removed for Saturday, except for a statement that its operations would be closed to support the investigation and leave time for families and the community to cry

Although the ship's captain survived, his driver, Bob Williams, 73, did not do it.

Branson Mayor Karen Best said Williams was a "great ambbadador" for the city. The Williams family in Rhode Island, where he had lived for decades before retiring to Branson, remembered him as a deeply religious man who founded a local church.

"Pastor Bob was a prince of loving, generous and generous men whose loss to our family is incalculable," said Williams' son-in-law, Mgr Jeffery Williams, who now runs the King's Cathedral in Providence.

An account has been opened at GoFundMe to pay for the funeral expenses of the Coleman family.