HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- A woman who swam to safety after a 70-mph wind shear capsized a riverboat on the Tennessee River said Sunday she would have drowned along with her husband and 10 others if God hadn't told her what to do.
'I was trapped in the boat underwater with everybody else and I heard God talk to me,' Margaret Largen said from a hospital bed. 'He told me to open my eyes, and when I did I could see a light. He told me to go to the light. And I did. And the next thing I knew, my head came out of the water.'
Mrs. Largen's husband, Carl, 40, was among the 11 who died Saturday when the double-deck sternwheeler 'SCItanic,' owned by SCI Corp. of Huntsville, capsized in a thunderstorm while cruising the Tennessee River.
Seven people, including the boat's three crewmembers, survived and clung to the pontoon hull of the 90-foot paddleboat until help arrived.
Alabama Marine Police investigator John Clifton said a preliminary report showed it 'probably was wind shear' that caused the 27-foot high vessel to overturn on the 400-yard-wide river near Ditto Landing.
'The height (of the boat) had a lot to do with it,' Clifton said, explaining the flat-bottomed vessel did not sit deep enough in the water to prevent it from overturning in the strong side winds.
The boat, a modern, diesel-powered copy of an old riverboat captained by Frank May, 31, was taking 15 SCI employees and their families on a weekend cruise on the scenic river when the sudden storm hit.
'There was really no time to react,' said first mate Gary McCluskey, 50, one of the seven survivors. 'Up to the point that we turned over, we were just dealing with a regular summer storm. We were holding our own; nothing life-threatening whatsoever.
'Everything turned white; just like being in a blizzard. You couldn't see anything,' he said. It was so loud, 'the captain couldn't hear me shout, and he was just two feet away.'
McCluskey said the floor 'shifted and started falling away. We went so fast, I never really lost my grip on the door,' which he had been holding to keep it from slamming shut. McClusky said it took five seconds, 'no more than eight, and we were slammed back into the water.'
Clifton said the weather was not threatening when the SCItanic left about 10:20 a.m. CST. The National Weather Service said the thunderstorm raked the area about 11:35 a.m.
May, a veteran skipper, correctly turned the boat into the storm, Clifton said, but a sudden wind shift hit the port side of the 85-ton vessel and flipped it in the murky green water.
'As far as I can tell, Frank checked the weather. It was decent when they went out. He was going by the book. He did everything he was supposed to do,' Clifton said.
Clifton said May sent the passengers into the lounge on the lower deck when the storm struck and told one of the crewmen to break out life jackets.
Mrs. Largen, who was hospitalized overnight for observation, said the worst part of her ordeal 'was knowing my husband was down there. I couldn't find him. Everytime I doze off, it just keeps coming back in my mind,' she said.
'It was a terrible tragedy,' said Gene Sapp, the president of SCI, an electronic components firm with 4,000 employees. 'It was an act of God and we are deeply saddened by it.'
The other victims were identified as Jason Tolbert, 8, his parents, Randall Tolbert, 28, and Pam Tolbert, 27, all of Fyffe; Sangeta Goel, 16, and Neeraj Goel, 12, and their parents, Radhey Goel, 40, and Kantea Goel, 30, all of Huntsville; Sandy Dunson, 21, of New Market, Nancy Elizabeth Pratt, 13, of Huntsville, and Patricia Ann Battle of Huntsville.
