Posted on 07/21/2018 2:40:42 PM PDT by ColdOne
Full title......................Desperate last words heard by mother who lost NINE relatives - including her husband and three kids - aboard Missouri duck boat, as it's claimed the captain told passengers NOT to wear life jackets............The tragic final words of some of the victims of the Missouri duck boat disaster on Thursday were 'grab the babies', it has been revealed.
Seconds before the Ride the Ducks boat capsized, the 31 passenger and crew on board scrambled to save the many children who were on board after a severe thunderstorm rolled over the lake and thrashed it with 60mph winds.
Seventeen people died including nine members of the Coleman family from Indianapolis.
On Saturday, one of only two surviving members of the family told how her husband and the other adults tried to save their young children before it was too late.
All three of Tia's children who were aged one to nine died along with her husband.
Her aunt has since told how she spoke to her on the phone from her hospital bed.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
What a breathtakingly sad story.
This is my fist, and I puncheth you in your face.
I’ve been on lakes in the north woods when those plow winds come through out of nowhere...scary as hell! Best be in a life jacket and close to shore.
I read that they vacationed together every year. Such a tragedy.
I know not the entire situation there, but it sounds to me like there was capsizing? In which case, I’m not sure anyone trapped by an overhead vessel would even make it to the surface.
Nice to note all this about jackets and belts, etc, but sometimes it’s really a non-sequitur.
After the last accident in 1999 they found that the life jackets pushed the people up into the cloth canopy of the duck boat where they couldn’t dis-entangle themselves.
That “boat” was basically a school bus that could float. Doesn’t sound like there was a very good way to get out once it filled with water.
I read an article last night where there is no safe way to ride in duck boats because of the roof on them. Even with a life preserver, if the boat is upside down you have wood above and below you. This was from one of the lawyers in the Philadelphia duck boat accident several years ago.
I think they’ve got “Duck Boats” up in the Dells in Wisconsin...Wonder if they’ve had any problems there???
I have been on a DUCK....they tell you that the life jackets are not necessary to wear before they even take off....I sincerely doubt he would have said that in that horribly rough water......so damn sad.
Maybe I’m naive about these duck boats, but what the hell was this company doing giving boat tours doing a storm?
I have been on those. for some reason I thought they did not have canopies on those.
Ripley entertainment owns this company. They bought it in December of 2017. This is the company started by Robert Ripley of Ripleys believe it or not fame. Sounds like they were more of an investment group than a company involved with boating. Good example of not getting involved in something you know nothing about. That they would allow a boat, any boat short of a submarine out in a storm is unbelievable to me.
I don’t know...A friend was telling me once that they had the boats there...I haven’t been there...
They were designed with simple hoops that held up a canvas top. The plexiglass windows and aluminum canopy is all aftermarket crap that made every voyage at max capacity overloaded from the beginning. Throw in some rough weather, 17 dead bodies and a little rough weather and into court your ass will be drug.
I grew up in that country and on that lake. When the boat left dock, the water was probably calm. There was a fast-moving storm front came across; there was nothing they could do once it hit and they were away from the dock. With the hills around the lake, probably no one noticed the clouds rolling in from the north-west. The mistake was not checking weather reports and radar before leaving the dock.
Very sad. The driver had plenty of time to move towards the shoreline and shallower water where there were less waves.
Plus he should have throttled back the motor to minimize the bobbing motion.
He just kept it wide open causing the front end to submerge. Poorly trained to handle those conditions.
Thank you for that info. They better get their checkbook out.
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