Girls sang, prayed for hours before rescue from frigid Utah lake

Saying prayers and singing primary songs were a couple things two teens did before being rescued from a fatal boating accident at Bear Lake on Monday.

Tiffany Stoker, 14 and Tylinn Tilley, 13, were two girls on the boat who survived and were rescued from the chilling waters with body temperatures of 68 degrees after trying to swim for three hours in 53 degree water.

A fast-moving storm capsized the boat and took the life of Dr. Lance Capener, his daughters Kelsey Capener 14, and Kylie Capener, 7. Family friend, Siera Hadley, 13, also died. Kathryn Capener, mother to Kelsey and Kylie and wife of Lance, survived.

One of the girls’ fathers said as his daughter and her friend tried to swim to the shore, they saw the sun setting and believed they were “staring death in the face.”

Everyone tried to stay close to the boat, but the waves continued to hit and hurt them. Two girls decided to stay with the boat, while Tiffany and Tylinn went for help and swam for three hours. They were 3 ½ miles from shore.

“They sang primary songs. They prayed,” Stoker wrote. “They said the waves and wind were so loud they literally yelled their prayers so the other could hear their words.”

As the sun set the two began to both lose hope and were so tired. They were about to give up, Stoked said. In that very moment they heard a boat and the girls began screaming. It was the Search and Rescue boat. The girls were found and taken to a local hospital where their vitals were stabilized.

“I am so grateful for the search and rescue efforts and all those that cared for my sweet daughter and her friend,” Stoker wrote. “I’m grateful they were together. We are also so full of grief for our friends’ losses.”