Duck Boat Survivor Claims Capitan Said “Life Jackets Not Necessary”

BRANSON, MO. (THECOUNT) — Tia Coleman, a woman who is reportedly among the survivors of a duck boat that capsized in a Missouri lake on Thursday, claims that the watercraft’s captain told passengers that wearing life jackets wasn’t necessary.

Coleman told local reporters that nine of her family members died in the incident that officials have said killed a total of 17 people.

“My heart is very heavy. Out of 11 of us, only two of us surviving – that’s me and my nephew,” Coleman told the outlet. “I lost all my children, my brother-in-law.” source

Before the boat hit stormy weather on Table Rock Lake and ultimately sank, Coleman claimed that the boat’s captain said passengers didn’t need to “worry about grabbing the life jackets – you won’t need them,” Fox 59 reported.

But when the situation changed and life jackets were needed, she reportedly said “it was too late.”

“I believe that a lot of people could have been spared,” Coleman told the outlet.