Of the two Duck boats that were floundering in a sudden heavy squall on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri, Duck #44 would be the only one to make it safely to shore. Several members of the Lemus family from Oak Cliff were on that boat.
“The lake was calm when we went in,” Chris Lemus said. "The captain even let some of us drive, let children drive. But about five minutes into the lake is when it started getting really hectic. And the storm just came and it was crazy. The waves....it was just really rough."
Their cell phone video shows the captain of their Duck boat, which was much closer to shore than the other Duck boat that would eventually sink with 31 people on board, radios the Showboat Branson Belle as they pass by. The dinner cruise paddle-wheeler is already secured to its dock, but the engine and paddle wheel are running in reverse to help keep it in place in the heavy surf.
"Showboat back off this is Duck #44 trying to get out of the water here,” the captain says apparently thinking the Branson Belle is backing up.
"We're not going anywhere. We're trying to fight the wind,” someone from the Branson Belle radios back.
"Ok I gotta try to get to that ramp,” the Duck captain says. “Oh, mercy, mercy, mercy,” he can be heard saying next. “Oh my goodness sakes,” he says over the radio just a few seconds later as he continues to fight the wind and waves.
"You're so saddened by the event that happened. It's so terrifying that it happened right next to us,” Sandra Lemus said.
According to officials, a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for the area at 6:30 p.m. Thursday with winds that eventually reached up to 80 miles an hour.
The first 911 call came in at 7:09 p.m. Rescuers say the boat initially sank in 40 feet of water but later rolled 80 feet down landing on its wheels. By midday Friday, divers have recovered the bodies of the final four victims, bringing the death total to 17.
"You feel helpless,” said witness Curt Elleman who watched from shore. “And it's just so tragic to see something like that happening to people, and know people are dying right there."
The passengers broke into applause on Duck boat #44 when they reached shore and a boat ramp on the property of the Showboat Branson Belle, not knowing for as much as an hour that the other boat never made it out of the water.
"And everybody was waiting, like where's the other boat? Where's the other boat? ” Sandra Lemus said. “We were expecting them to come out and nobody ever did."
Friday night, investigators are still trying to determine how it happened and how many of the 31 people on board were wearing life jackets. But if video evidence from Duck #44 is any indication, life jackets might not have been worn at all. In the Lemus family cell phone video, no one can be seen wearing life jackets, even as the waves became the most intense.
"The captain was doing a good job of keeping everybody calm,” Chris Lemus said. “ We didn’t really know I guess the danger we were in at that moment."
Danger, that for 17 souls – nine of them from one Indiana family - proved all too real.