Duck boat survivor, Tia Coleman: ‘I remember praying, ‘Lord, let me get to my babies’

Tia Coleman, a survivor of the duck boat disaster in Missouri, says her husband's attempt to rescue their children is what will keep her going after their loss.

Blue Telusma

Jul 27, 2018

Tia Coleman thegrio.com — Tia Coleman, a survivor of the duck boat disaster in Missouri, says her husband's attempt to rescue their children is what will keep her going after their loss. (Courtesy of CNN/YouTube)

Tia Coleman, a survivor of the duck boat disaster in Missouri that claimed 17 lives last week, has experienced more pain recently than any of us could ever imagine.

Monday, she was barely able to keep it together as she spoke to CNN about her harrowing ordeal. In the midst of all her grief, she says remembering husband’s attempt to rescue their children is what will keep her going.

“Somebody told me that when they found my husband, he had all three of my babies,” Coleman told Anderson Cooper on “Anderson Cooper Full Circle,” a daily interactive news show on Facebook Watch. “So, the reason I couldn’t find them is because he was protecting them.”

“That right there will keep me fighting for my family forever,” Coleman said. “To know that he did (was) exactly what he always told me when we first met: ‘I will always take care of you and our children.'”

Last Thursday, Coleman and 10 of her relatives were on a family vacation in Missouri when the duck boat they were on capsized as a storm swept the lake. Of the 11 in attendance, nine of her family members died, including her husband and three children. Coleman and her 13-year-old nephew were the only two survivors from their family group.

She says passengers were told there was a storm coming before they went out on the water, but were assured the boat could take on waves of up to 18 to 20 feet. She added that they were also told, “There are life jackets and they are above you, but ‘you don’t need to know where they are because you won’t need to use them.'”

“I was in the very front seat (with) my oldest son, who I explained earlier is on the autism spectrum, he’s very excitable,” she explained. “So, I wanted to make sure I can keep a hold of him. If he saw anything or splashed with water.”

“As the first big wave came in, it looked like the water came into the boat then it washed out the back. When the last big wave came in, I lost a hold of my baby. I didn’t know the boat had capsized. I thought it just went under. I jumped up and immediately started floating.”

“I was so disoriented. I couldn’t see anything, so I just started pushing with my hands, trying to find a way out,” she continued. “It was so cold. I remember praying, ‘Lord, let me get to my babies. Lord, let me get to my babies.’ I couldn’t get to them.”

At one point she lost all hope of surviving and started making peace with her own death. “I said if I can’t get to my family let me go.”

When her head emerged from the lake, she saw a big riverboat docked nearby, but couldn’t spot anyone from her family.

“When they got me situated I didn’t see any of my people and then my nephew came running out,” Coleman said.

Since the tragedy she has received messages from other survivors who have expressed to her their guilt for not being able to do more to help those who lost their lives. She had one simple message for them: “We all went through something extremely traumatic, they should never feel guilty for surviving.”