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When Tia Coleman and her family boarded the canoe at Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri on Thursday afternoon, the sun was shining and the temperature was in the 90s.
Her boys, Reece and Evan, could not wait to get out on the water and cool off.
"The captain said something about life jackets," Coleman recalled Saturday. He said, "Above you are your lifejackets, there are three sizes:" I will show you where they are, but you will not need them, so we did not catch them. . "
ABC News She often interrupted her tears while she was speaking at a press conference at Cox Medical Center in Branson. She and her 13 – year – old nephew, Donovan Hall, were the only members of their family to survive what they were expecting from a fun outing on the lake, one of the companies that 's been doing. they had incorporated in their annual summer vacation.
She said that she always liked being on the water, but now everything has changed.
"I never want to be on a boat in my life, anybody's boat," says Coleman.
Brewing Storms
The Indianapolis woman remembers taking place at the front of the duck, an amphibious ship modeled on those used during the Second World War. Her eldest son, Reece, 9, whom she said was on the autism spectrum, was sitting next to her.
Other family members rocked his granddaughter, Arya, and looked at her other boy, Evan, 7 years old. Her husband, Glenn, sits behind Tia with her parents, Horace and Belinda, her sister, Angela, and her son, Max. Tia's uncle, Ray Coleman, 76, the eldest in the family, and his nephew, Donovan, also participated in the "Ride The Duck" tour.
A total of 11 Colemans took most of the space on the boat.
A crew member mentioned that there was a storm coming up, but as they were moving away from the dock, the sky seemed clear, did she? said.
ABC News "The water was splashing. We thought it was great, but when a big wave came, it was when I got nervous and then the next big swell.
In a flash, the sky clouded, the wind began to howl at 73 miles per hour, almost the force of the hurricane gusts. The waves crested six feet.
The suddenly turbulent water capsized the duck, turning the pleasure trip into a panic and chaos, said Tia Coleman.
"Lord, let me go to my babies"
"I've always loved the water, I do not know if it's a Picese or what, but I'm not sure. have always loved water, "she says. "But when this water came on the boat, I did not know what had happened, I had my son right next to me, but when the water filled the boat, I could not see, I did not feel anyone. saying, "I have to go out, I have to go out!
She remembers bumping her head on what she thought was the ceiling of the boat and then being in the water.
"When I went out into the water, it was cold and I remember we were going in the water [out] they said the lake was hot, like in the 80s. So I knew so cold that I'm near the bottom, I'm not close to the top, "she said.
"I just remember kicking and swimming, swimming up to the top," she said. "And while I was swimming, I prayed, just saying," Lord, please, let me go to my babies, I have to go to my babies, I have to go to my babies. "
Courtesy of Trent Behr But the more she struggled to surface, the more she felt that something was pulling her down. She wanted to give up.
"I kept fighting, and I kept fighting, and then I said," Lord, if I can not do it, it is useless to keep me here. "And then I just let go and started floating, and when I started floating, I felt the temperature of the water change and that 's it. "It's warmed up," she said. "And as it was getting hotter, I knew I was at the top so I reached out and j & rsquo; I continued to swallow tons of water. "
When she broke the surface, she saw a boat ride nearby and people on board jumped in or threw lifejackets and life rafts to those who had been thrown into the water.
"The waves were crushing on my face and whenever I had my head a little above the water, I was screaming" Help! Help! & # 39; " She says. "They were throwing life rafts at everyone, but I could not reach it, I could not get there in time and so I managed to reach the boat and those beautiful people, the angels … they pulled me up. And when they shot me on the boat, I did not see any members of my family, but I believe that I survived by the grace of God and by good Samaritans. "
Divers retrieve data logger
According to the authorities, 17 of the 31 people, including two crew members, died on board the capsized boat.
Brian Young, the lead investigator of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Saturday that divers had recovered a voyage data recorder from the boat, the equivalent of a plane's black box, and that He had been transported to Washington for badysis. .
Southern Stone County Fire Protection District / EPA / Rex / Shutterstock The cause of the tragic incident remains under investigation.
But Richard Clifford, a veteran of the Chicago Maritime and Aviation, said that it was obvious that the duck, and another who was bringing it down, should not have been on the water.
"For some inexplicable reason, these two ducks were out there," Clifford told ABC News.
Over the last 20 years, 43 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in duck boats, including one in Seattle in 2015 that killed five people when an amphibious vehicle Ride the Ducks did a swerved bridge and slammed into a bus.
million. Clifford stated that canoe operators are not required to check weather reports and wave heights before leaving the docks, and that most operators have minimal training and maneuver in rough water.
"These boats have never really been built and designed for tricky waters," Clifford said. "You do not have highly trained operators, you do not have a ship that is really designed to withstand such conditions, you do not have adequate distribution of life-saving devices , people are not obliged to wear them.
"When you hear the horror stories of people who are in the water without lifejackets and lifejackets floating, it's a problem."
ABC News Clair McCaskill of Missouri promised Saturday to propose legislation to make ducks safer, though she did not specifically say what the suggested regulations should be. Clifford said that for beginners, operators should check National Weather Service reports 30 to 60 minutes before taking pbadengers out.
Facing Life Without Her Family
Meanwhile, Tia Coleman says she has received support from friends, relatives and her church pastor who traveled to Missouri from Canada. Indiana to be at his side.
"What struck me the most was that I had the impression that if I could have a lifejacket, I could have saved my babies because they could have at least gone back up to the top and somebody would have grabbed them, "she says, her voice crackling again with emotion. "And I was not able to do that."
While she and her nephew, Donovan, will be staying at the hospital for a few days, Tia Coleman said that she can not imagine what life will be like when she returns home.
"Getting home, I already know, is going to be completely difficult," she said. "I do not know how I'm going to do it, since I've always had a house, she's always been filled with little laughs and my husband, I do not know how I am. go do it. "
Beautiful People
She asked people to pray for her and to remember her nine lost family members "for the beautiful people that they were".
She then described each of them:
– "I lost my husband, he was so loving and he did not look like he was, but he was, he was so loving
– "My eldest son, Reece, was on the autism spectrum, but he made it every day worth living. And he was the happiest and kindest boy that anyone would ever want to meet. "
-" My very son, who was 7 years old, was extremely intelligent, quick and witty. He loved life and he was a big brother, a big brother and a little brother. "
-" And then my baby, Arya. She was only 1 and she had a thousand personalities wrapped in hers. She would blow kisses and she would fight. She was a little fireball and my only daughter. "
South Stone County Fire Protection District / EPA / Rex / Shutterstock – "My father-in-law [Horace Coleman] had a heart of gold. It would give anything to anyone. "
-" My mother-in-law [Belinda Coleman] was like a second mother. She was always there with a word of support. "
-" My sister-in-law [Angela Coleman] whom I named sister because she was there. She was so affectionate and she would do anything for her family. "
-" My uncle, Ray Coleman, was the oldest of the Colemans. He loved to laugh and have a good time.
– "And my nephew, Max, was the sweetest baby of all time, he loved big cuddles and warm kisses."
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