Missouri Duck Boat Accident: Coast Guard Raises Ship on Lake Surface

A family lost 9 members

Tia Coleman and 10 of her parents took the duck to take a tour of Table Rock Lake during their family vacation. Only she and her nephew survived when the boat sank.

Her husband, three children and five other family members died in the accident.

Coleman sometimes cried describing how she was trying to help her family and flee on Saturday.

She said all the time, she was trying to get her children: "Lord, do you like it, I have to get to my babies, I have to get to my babies," she recalled. Saturday, speaking to reporters at Cox Medical Center Branson, where she was hospitalized.

Coleman said that she bumped her head while she was trying to get out of the boat and that she was pulled from the water.

The Victims Were Not Wearing a Life Vest When They were Found

None of the deceased victims wore lifejackets when they were found, told CNN a source having knowledge of the investigation. According to Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader

the duck contained life jackets, but the passengers were not required to wear them. the captain decides if passengers need to carry them.

"The captain said something about lifejackets … jackets, there are three sizes, but you will not need them, "Coleman said Saturday night.

A survivor, Talyssa Mann, 19, of Carlsbad, New Mexico, said Coleman's statement on life jackets was correct.

"I felt as if, if I could get a lifejacket, I could have saved my babies because they could at least have gone back up to the top and somebody. One could have caught them, "Coleman told reporters.

Age of victims extending over several decades

The victims are between 1 and 76 years old, according to the authorities.

Nine of the victims were the Colemans. They were Angela, 45 years old; Arya, 1; Belinda, 69 years old; Ervin, 76; Evan, 7 years old; Glenn, 40; Horace, 70; Maxwell, 2; and Reece, 9. They had been on a family vacation from Indiana.

The duck driver, Robert Williams, 73, died at the wreck, said his widow, Judy Williams.

Other casualties included Steve Smith, a retired teacher from Osceola, Arkansas, and his teenage son, Lance. ; William and Janice Bright, a married couple from Higginsville, Missouri; William Asher and his partner Rosemarie Hamann of Missouri; and Leslie Dennison of Illinois, according to family friends, CNN affiliates and local media.

The Vessel Changed Route

State investigators are investigating whether criminal acts have been committed, while the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the sinking . The NTSB investigation could take up to a year.

On Thursday, the area around Branson was placed under a severe thunderstorm warning shortly after 6:30 pm. local, about half an hour before the boat sank. The authorities received the first call about the sinking at 7:09 pm, according to the Stone County Sheriff.

The boat sank 40 feet and then rolled up to an area 80 feet deep, Rader said.

Ride the Branson Ducks said that he was deeply saddened and that the business would be closed "as we support the investigation, and to give time to cry for families and the community."

"Words can not tell hearts are broken," he said in a statement, "We will continue to do everything possible to help the families who have been involved and the authorities in their pursuit of research. and rescue. "