Some duck boat victims met tragedy after last-minute twists of fate
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For nine members of an Indiana family and a Missouri couple celebrating a birthday, Thursday's duck boat tragedy on a lake near Branson, Mo., may have been a cruel twist of fate.
According to friends and family members, the Coleman family was supposed to board a different boat, but got delayed while snapping a photo, and the Missouri couple opted for a Branson-area vacation after also considering a Nashville trip.
Tracy Beck, of Kansas City, Mo., said she recalled seeing the Coleman family waiting in line to board a different duck boat. After they stopped for a photo, she said, a ticket taker reassigned them.
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If Beck's account is true, the Coleman family likely wouldn't have been on the ill-fated trip if it weren't for the photo and reassignment.
Family member Ingrid Coleman Douglas told the Indianapolis Star that "it's unimaginable" what happened.
"They were very loved. It’s a huge family on all sides," Coleman Douglas said from her Indianapolis home. "I would never have thought I would have lost this number of people this way."
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The Missouri couple -- William Asher, 69, and Rose Hamann, 70, from Affton -- were celebrating Hamann's 70th birthday, which was on Monday, FOX 2 of St. Louis reported.
A friend told KSDK-TV of St. Louis that the couple was debating whether to celebrate in Nashville or Branson, and picked Branson at the last minute.
"It is incredibly tragic,” neighbor Omar Helal told the station.
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The neighborhood has lost two of its favorite people, and it will never be the same, Helal and a neighbor said.
"They were two of the nicest people you will ever meet in your entire life," Patti Zimmer Lewis told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of her friends.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.