Best friends survive hours in stormy waters after boat accident

BEAR LAKE, UT (WABC) -- Two teenage girls are speaking out after they survived a fierce storm, swimming for hours to safety after a boating accident on Bear Lake in Utah that left four others dead.

On Monday, Tiffany Stoker went on a boat excursion with her best friend, Tylinn Tilley. They were joined by family friends Lance Capener, his wife Kathy, and another friend from school.

But the outing took a dramatic turn as a surprise storm overtook the small skiboat.

"The storm came in quickly, and the waves were huge," Stoker said.

With 76 mile-an-hour winds and waves 10 feet high, all seven passengers were thrown into the frigid waters. All on board were wearing life jackets, but the waves separated Tiffany and Tylinn from the group.

They tried to swim six miles to shore, treading water for an excruciating five hours.

"We kept each other going," Tilley said. "Reminding each other to just keep swimming."

What kept them going, they say, was a song from the Disney movie "Finding Nemo." The girls kept singing "Just keep swimming" aloud, over and over, as they treaded water.

"If we would have let fear overtake us, we would have never been able to get out," Stoker said.

Miraculously, rescue workers found the duo, both suffering from hypothermia, bobbing in the water.

The two friends, along with Kathy Capener, were the only survivors from the original boating group of seven.

They are now bound for life by a story of strength and resilience in the face of death.