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Source says 17 killed in duck boat tragedy weren’t wearing life jackets when found

Posted at 8:20 PM, Jul 22, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-22 20:20:28-04

The 17 people who died in the duck boat tragedy last week in southwestern Missouri were not wearing life jackets when found, a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN Sunday.

The Ride the Ducks Branson amphibious vessel had 31 people on board when it set sail Thursday on Table Rock Lake near the Missouri tourist mecca of Branson as a severe thunderstorm whipped up intense winds and waves. A treacherous squall sank the boat.

There were life jackets on the boat, according to Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader. Rader said over the weekend he didn’t know if people were wearing them.

Tia Coleman, one of the 14 survivors, said passengers were told there was a storm coming before they went out on the lake. The captain mentioned the life jackets before the boat set sail but said, “you won’t need them so we didn’t grab them,” Coleman said Saturday.

Coleman, who lost nine family members, said she thinks she could have saved her children if she had been able to get them life jackets.

“I felt like, if I was able to get a life jacket I could have saved my babies because they could have at least floated up to the top and somebody could have grabbed them,” she told reporters at Cox Medical Center Branson, where she has been hospitalized.

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

The dead victims ranged in age from 1 to 76 years, authorities said.

State investigators are looking into whether any criminal acts were committed, according to Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley. The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the cause of the sinking.