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.
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.
Source : Nbcnewyork