Indiana family among duck boat dead
More than half of the 17 people killed when a tourist boat sank on a Branson lake were members of the same Indiana family, and they likely would not have been on the ill-fated trip but for a ticket mix-up.
Tracy Beck, of Kansas City, Missouri, said she recalled the family members waiting in line. After they stopped for a picture, she said, a ticket taker realized they should have boarded at a different location and reassigned them.
Others who died in the accident at Table Rock Lake included a Missouri couple who had recently celebrated a birthday, a longtime Rhode Island pastor who was operating the boat and an Indiana father and son.
The Stone County Sheriff’s Department identified the Indiana family members as 45-yearold Angela Coleman, 1-year-old Arya Coleman, 69-year-old Belinda Coleman, 76-year-old Ervin Coleman, 7-year-old Evan Coleman, 40-year-old Glenn Coleman, 70-year-old Horace Coleman, 2year-old Maxwell Coleman, and 9-year-old Reece Coleman.
A relative of the family, Kim Thomas Sr., said they’re taking the news hard.
“The kids are doing better than we are. We have to live in this world; they have gone to the other side,” said Thomas, 51, of Indianapolis, whose cousin, Tia Coleman, was one of two members of the family to survive the accident at Table Rock Lake near Branson.
Others who died were 69-year-old William Asher, 68-year-old Rosemarie Hamann, 63-yearold Janice Bright, 65-year-old William Bright, and the crew member operating the boat, 73-year-old Bob Williams, all from Missouri. Also killed were 64-year-old Leslie Dennison of Illinois, and 53year-old Steve Smith and his son, 15-year-old Lance Smith, both from Arkansas.
State and federal investigators were trying to determine what went sent the vessel known as a duck boat to its demise in what was the deadliest accident of its kind in early two decades. An initial assessment blamed thunderstorms and winds that approached hurricane strength, but it wasn’t clear why the amphibious vehicle even ventured out into the water.
The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the area Thursday, saying conditions were ripe for winds of 70 mph (113 km/h). It followed up at 6:32 p.m. with a severe thunderstorm warning.