Woman recalls horrifying ordeal after dragon boat overturned in Schuylkill River

A woman on a dragon boat that overturned in the Schuylkill River on Tuesday morning is speaking out about the ordeal and said she feared she was going to die.

Kathleen Tskalakos said the dragon boat overturned at around 6:30 a.m. after hitting a pile of wood debris that had piled up under City Avenue overpass in Philly's East Falls neighborhood.

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Tskalakos said that she was trapped underwater by debris and people above her and that she thought she was going to die.

"I was just fighting, I was fighting, I was fighting through the wood," she said. "I was trying to get through the wood. I had someone pressing in this side of my body. I couldn’t stand. There was no bottom. I’m trying to climb and swim and I couldn’t get through all the debris and I gave up. I said I don’t want to die like this."

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"I was underneath the debris and so when I was trying to come up, I couldn’t get through. I was trying really hard. People were trying climb out of it. Feet, hands, people pressing down trying to get out of the way. Just crazy. It was chaotic."

However, Tskalakos was eventually able to make it to the surface.

"I was getting out of breath, and I just relaxed and the current pushed me a little bit, and then I could see a yellow light," she said. "I knew I could get oxygen, so I went up and opened my mouth. And once I got energy, I worked my way up and out of the debris. But I almost died."

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Marine units for the Philadelphia Police Department were able to get to the scene and pull everyone up.

Only one person, Tskalakos, was taken to the hospital with injuries. She suffered some bruising on her crest.

She says she is not letting the incident scare her away from the water for long.

"Absolutely, in a couple weeks. I told coach I could come to practice after the next few weeks," she said. "He understood. He was good. Good words. Good coach. Who knew this could happen? A mishap I guess."