Black Family Loses 9 Members in Tour Boat Accident

By Frederick H. Lowe
BlackmansStreet.Today

Nine members of a Black family drowned when their tour boat sank on Table Rock Lake Thursday in Branson, Missouri, in 70 miles per hour winds and high waves. The boat was equipped with life jackets, but before the accident the captain told passengers they didn’t need to wear them.

The family’s last name is Coleman, and they were residents from the Indianapolis, Indiana, area. The Colemans were among 17 adults and children killed Thursday when their duck boat sank in 40 feet of water before finally resting in 80 feet of water.  Twenty-nine passengers and two crew members were aboard the boat.

Duck boats are six-wheel-drive amphibious modification of the 2½ ton trucks used by the U.S. military during World War II and the Korean War.

Tia Coleman, whose husband, children, sister and cousins drowned, said life jackets were on the boat, but the captain told passengers they didn’t need them.

“My husband would want to me to say this—he would want the world  to know  that on this boat we are on, the captain had told us ‘don’t worry about  grabbing life jackets—you won’t need them,’ so nobody grabbed them as we listened to the captain as he told us to stay seated.”

A member of one of the rescue boats tossed Coleman a life jacket and that is how she survived. ” Tia Coleman said during a news conference that she believed she had died and angels saved her.

Members of the Coleman family who drowned are:

Angela Coleman, 45; Arya Coleman, 1; Belinda Coleman, 69; Ervin Coleman, 76; Evan Coleman, 7, Glenn Coleman, 40; Horace Coleman, 70; Maxwell Coleman, 2;  and Reece Coleman, 9.  They were in Branson for a family vacation.

Other drowning victims were: Asher Williams, 69, from Missouri; Rosemarie Hamann, 68, from Missouri; Janice Bright, 63, from Missouri; William Bright, 65, from Missouri; Leslie Dennison, 64, from Illinois; Bob Williams, 71, from Missouri; Lance Smith, 15, from Arkansas and Steve Smith, 53, from Arkansas.

We can help accident victims through gofundme.com/table-rock-cares and Coleman Family Boat Accident and cfozarks.org/donate.