‘I said, “Jesus, please keep me” ’
Tales of sorrow and heroism emerge as the Missouri duck boat sinking is investigated.
BRANSON, Mo. — “Grab the baby!”
Those were the last words Tia Coleman recalls her sister-in-law yelling before the tourist boat they were on sank into a Missouri lake, killing 17 people, including nine of Coleman’s family members.
A huge wave hit, scattering passengers on the vessel known as a duck boat into Table Rock Lake near Branson, Coleman said, recounting the ordeal from a hospital bed. When the Indianapolis woman came up for air, she was alone. She prayed.
“I said, ‘Jesus, please keep me, just keep me so I can get to my children,’ ” Coleman told KOLR-TV.
She spotted a rescue boat and swam as fast as she could.
Coleman’s husband and three children, ages 9, 7 and 1; her 45-year-old sister-inlaw and 2-year-old nephew; and her husband’s parents and uncle all died Thursday night in the deadliest accident of its kind in nearly two decades. Others killed included a Missouri couple who had just celebrated a birthday; another Missouri couple who were on their final planned extended vacation; an Illinois woman who died saving her granddaughter’s life; an Arkansas father and son; and a retired pastor who was the boat’s operator.
State and federal investigators were trying to determine what sent the vessel, built for military use in World War II, to its demise. An initial assessment blamed thunderstorms and winds that approached hurricane strength, but it wasn’t clear why the amphibious vehicle even ventured into the water.
Coleman said the crew told passengers they were going into the water first, before the land-based part of their tour, because of the incoming storm. The area had been under a severe thunderstorm watch for hours and a severe thunderstorm warning for more than 30 minutes before the boat sank.
Suzanne Smagala with Ripley Entertainment, which owns Ride the Ducks in Branson, said it was the company’s only accident in more than 40 years of operation.
Usually the tour begins with a tour of downtown Branson, known for its country shows and entertainment, before the vessel enters the lake for a short ride. The company hasn’t commented on Coleman’s account.
Company President Jim Pattison Jr. said the boat captain had 16 years of experience, and the firm monitors weather.
Twenty-nine passengers and two crew members were aboard. Fourteen people survived, including two adults who remained hospitalized Saturday.
Coleman and her 13-yearold nephew were the sole survivors of her 11 family members who boarded the boat.
Another survivor was 12year-old Alicia Dennison of Illinois, who says her grandmother, 64-year-old Leslie Dennison, saved her from drowning. Alicia’s father, Todd Dennison, told the Kansas City Star that his daughter recalled feeling her grandmother below her, pushing her upward after the boat capsized.
Fourteen-year-old Loren Smith of Osceola, Ark., suffered a concussion. Her father, 53-year-old Steve Smith, and her 15-year-old brother, Lance, died.
Others killed included 65-year-old William Bright and his 63-year-old wife, Janice. The couple had recently celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary.
William Bright’s final Facebook posting noted the wedding anniversary and how happy he was with his wife, three kids and 16 grandchildren. Life, he wrote, had “been a lot of fun.”
St. Louis-area couple William Asher, 69, and Rosemarie Hamann, 68, who also were killed in the accident, had been celebrating Hamann’s birthday earlier in the week.
“I can only imagine what they were going through. They were so in love. It’s just heartbreaking,” said friend Russ McKay, who said he talked to Hamann on Wednesday.
Chance brought the Colemans aboard the doomed vessel.
Tia Coleman said her family initially lined up for the wrong tour, so they had to switch out their tickets for the 6:30 p.m. ride.
The crew showed passengers where the life jackets were but said, ‘Don’t worry about it, you won’t need it,’ ” Coleman said.
When swells crashed into the boat, they were told to stay seated, she said.
“When that boat is found, all those life jackets are going to be on there,” Coleman said. “Nobody pulled them off.”
The company’s website had been taken down by Saturday, save for a statement that its operations would remain shuttered to support the investigation and allow time for families and the community to grieve.
While the boat captain survived, the driver, 73-yearold Bob Williams, did not.
Branson Mayor Karen Best said Williams was a “great ambassador” for the city.
Williams’ family in Rhode Island remembered him as a deeply religious man who founded a local church.
“Pastor Bob was a prince of a man, loving, kind and generous, whose loss to our family is incalculable,” said Williams’ son-in-law, Bishop Jeffery Williams, who leads King’s Cathedral in Providence.