The nation is still in mourning over the Branson Duck Boat tragedy that occurred earlier this month. Now, a woman who lost nine family members in the tragedy and survived it herself is speaking out to reveal heartbreaking details about what happened.

Tia Coleman spoke out to reveal that the captain of the boat told guests that there was no need for them to grab life jackets.

“You don’t need ’em,” Tia recalled him saying. “So, nobody grabbed them.”

Bob Williams, the captain, lost his life in the incident. So did Tia’s husband Glenn, and their three children Reece, Evan and Arya.

When stormy weather hit the boat, Tia’s first thought was that they should grab life vests.

“I thought that at some point [the captain] would say grab the jackets now. But we were told to stay seated, and everybody stayed seated,” Tia said. “Nobody grabbed them.”

She explained that they had only decided to ride the boat because of her son’s autism, and that she is convinced that life jackets could have saved her family’s lives.

“In our family, my oldest son is autistic so a lot of things normal families do, we don’t always do,” she said. “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. And I wasn’t able to do that.”

“When that boat is found, all those life jackets are going to be on there because nobody pulled one off,” Tia said. “I’ve always loved water, I don’t know if it’s a Pisces or what, I’ve always loved water. But when that water came over the boat, I didn’t know what happened. I had my son right next to me. But when the water filled up the boat, I could no longer see. I couldn’t feel anybody.”

“The harder I was kicking to the top, I was pulled down,” she said. “I said, ‘Lord, please, I’ve got to get to my babies. I’ve got to get to my babies.”

Tia was sadly not able to save her children. Of the eleven members of her family on the boat, only Tia and her nephew survived.

“I’ve never had to recover from something like this…I don’t know if there is a recovery,” she said. “I would ask everybody to remember my family as the beautiful people they were.”

During this difficult time, Tia is trying to rely on her faith to get her through.

“God must have something for me because there’s no way I should be here,” she said.

Please keep this woman in your thoughts and prayers! Watch Tia’s full press conference below, and SHARE this story so your friends and family can see this as well!