Duck Boat Wreck Survivor Says Captain Told Them Not To Wear Life Jackets

Tia Coleman, the woman who lost 9 family members in a tragic duck boat wreck in Branson, Missouri, says the captain told passengers not to wear life jackets because they “won’t need them.”

Ms. Coleman spoke out in an interview with FOX59 saying:

My husband would want me to say this. He would want the world to know that on this boat we were on, the captain had told us, ‘Don’t worry about grabbing the life jackets — you won’t need them.’

So nobody grabbed them as we listened to the captain as he told us to stay seated.

In doing that, when it was time to grab (the life vests), it was too late and I believe that a lot of people could have been spared.

Ironically, the captain survived.

17 people perished when the amphibious boat capsized in the churning water and 65 mph winds on Table Rock Lake.

Tia’s family suffered the most losses.

My heart is very heavy. Out of 11 of us, only two of us surviving – that’s me and my nephew.

I lost all my children and my brother-in-law.

Belinda Coleman, 69, Glenn Coleman, 40, Horace “Butch” Coleman, 70, Irvin Raymond Coleman, 76, and Angela Coleman, 45, and children Evan Coleman, 7, Reece Coleman, 9, Maxwell Coleman, 2, and Arya Coleman, 1, were all killed when the boat went down.

Watch below at Tia speaks out.