Jackson’s two-sentence response from the Bahamas, where she and her husband were celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary, would be the last time the two communicated. “I love you,” she told Mann in the 4 p.m. text. “I am going back to the beach now.” Hours later, Jackson was dead. She was 39. “This doesn’t seem real to me,” said Aja Mann, who joined Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. at Tennessee State University the same year as Maleka Jackson. “I don’t know when it will become real. But we will continue her legacy.” (Credit: Aja Mann) According to officials, Jackson and her husband Tiran were on a small tour boat with 10 others when it exploded about 9 a.m. Saturday off the coast of Exuma, which is 130 miles south of Nassau. Tiran Jackson was badly burned in the explosion, had a leg amputated and is “fighting for his life” in a Florida hospital. A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., Jackson moved to Atlanta about a decade ago, said several of her sorority sisters who live in the Atlanta area. “The irony of her death is she is doing something she loved with the love of her life,” said Natasha Wilder, another line sister who lives in Stone Mountain. Wilder, who is president of the Briar Vista Elementary PTA, said she and Jackson had several long conversations about their respective PTAs and how to navigate a work and life balance – something she said Jackson was able to achieve. Jackson was the 2017-18 president of the Mill Creek Middle School PTSA in Woodstock, where her 12-year-old son is a rising seventh-grader, according to a post on the group’s Facebook page. “She wanted to be hands on in her son’s life and in our lives,” Wilder said. “I sometimes find myself so engrossed in family and work that I can’t do everything, and she always understood that.” Jada Wright Nichols, who also lives in Atlanta, saw that early on. Wright was leaving TSU when Jackson arrived as a freshman. “I was her peer counselor and mentor and I identified her as someone who had limitless potential. Even as a freshman,” Wright said. “Being able to witness her reach even beyond that potential over the last 20 years has been a privilege.” Maleka Jackson, left, of Woodstock, was killed in a tour boat explosion in the Bahamas. (Credit: GoFundMe) Credit: GoFundMe Credit: GoFundMe Days before their trip, Jackson and her husband dropped Cameron off with family in Tennessee. Melvin Grimes told the Fox affiliate in Chattanooga, it was difficult explaining his daughter’s death to his grandson, but Cameron understands the "eternal place of his mom." RELATED: Father says Tennessee woman killed in weekend boat explosion in the Bahamas The cause of the explosion has not been determined, according to ABC News. Exuma police are leading the investigation. MORE: American killed in Bahamas boat explosion was on anniversary trip with husband Video filmed from a nearby boat showed tourists jumping into the water in an attempt to rescue passengers in the burning boat, ABC News reported. The footage also showed thick, black smoke pouring into the sky and large flames shooting from the boat. Chaotic scene in the Bahamas after explosion on a tour boat results in the death of an American woman and leaves nine others injured. Authorities say the cause of the blast is under investigation. https://t.co/nofy2hHd3Q pic.twitter.com/hzDUHHcyms — ABC News (@ABC) July 2, 2018 A total of nine people were injured in the explosion, according to ABC News. Jackson was the only confirmed fatality. MORE: 1 dead, 9 hurt after tour boat explodes in Bahamas ALSO: Ballet dancer injured in deadly Bahamas boat explosion doesn't know she lost legs, family says She was described in a statement from the Cherokee County School District as a “wonderful mom, volunteer and leader, who cared so much for her community and its children and teachers.” Maleka Jackson Credit: Facebook Credit: Facebook Superintendent Brian Hightower asked the district to “keep the Jacksons in their hearts and prayers and support them in this time of need.” More than $60,000 in donations have already poured in since a GoFundMe page was created to benefit the family. The goal is $100,000. Tiran Jackson, according to the Mill Creek PTSA, “has a long road ahead, which will include multiple surgeries and physical therapy.” A vigil began at 8 p.m. Tuesday on the tennis court of the family’s Lakestone subdivision, which is near the local Walmart on Ga. 92, according to the PTSA. Those who love Maleka Jackson are brought to tears at the vigil being held to remember her, pray for her husband and son. Hear from loved ones @ 11PM @wsbtv. pic.twitter.com/LjWRNHkjuJ — Nefertiti Jáquez (@NefertitiWSB) July 4, 2018 Jackson’s sorority sisters are planning a vigil of their own on July 8 at the Briar Vista Elementary School Sports Court, 1131 Briar Vista Terrace NE, in Atlanta. They plan on gathering at 6 p.m., and in a nod to the sorority’s founding in 1908, start the vigil at 7:08 (19:08) p.m. Concurrent vigils will be held in Nashville, Memphis, Charlotte, Dallas and Houston. “This doesn’t seem real to me,” Mann said. “I don’t know when it will become real. But we will continue her legacy.”<doc-sep>The American tourist killed in a boat explosion in the Bahamas was a mother of one who had been on the islands celebrating her 15th wedding anniversary, her father said. Tennessean Maleka Grimes-Jackson and her husband, Tyran Jackson, took an anniversary trip every year, going to far-flung locales including China, Japan and parts of South America, her father, Malvin Grimes, told WRCB-TV. see also US tourist killed in Bahamas boat explosion identified The American tourist who was killed in a boat explosion... When Grimes heard about an explosion on a tour boat off the coast of Exuma on Saturday, he prayed it wasn’t the vessel his daughter was on, he said. “There was of course always holding out for hope that they had both survived, would be OK,” the distraught dad recalled. But Maleka didn’t survive the explosion, and her husband is still recovering from his injuries at a hospital in South Florida. Grimes said the hardest part was telling his 12-year-old grandson, Cameron, that Maleka was gone. When the young boy heard the news, he dropped the phone, Grimes said. Eight other people were injured in the blast, including a 22-year-old dancer from Vermont named Stefanie Schaffer who lost both her legs in the blast. Schaffer’s mother, sister and stepdad were also injured. The cause of the blast is still being investigated.<doc-sep>
An American woman killed after a boat exploded Saturday in the Bahamas has been identified by her family, while another American woman underwent a double leg amputation after suffering severe injuries in the blast. The boat was carrying ten American tourists and two Bahamian nationals when it burst into flames Saturday morning, killing one American and injuring nine others, the Associated Press reports. Video of the incident shot from a neighboring vessel showed thick smoke and flames consume the 40-foot-boat, as onlookers jumped into shallow waters to help rescue passengers. Authorities have not released the names of those on board, but the woman who died was identified Monday by her father as Maleka Grimes Jackson of Chattanooga, Tennessee, local ABC-affiliate NewsChannel 9 reports. Jackson was reportedly celebrating her 15th wedding anniversary in the Bahamas with her husband Tyran, who was injured in the blast. The couple reportedly have a 12-year-old son. The U.S. Coast Guard airlifted four people injured in the explosion to St. Petersburg, Florida Saturday. Another six are being treated in Nassau, the Bahaman capital, according to AP. Among the injured was Stefanie Schaffer, 22, a dancer whose injuries necessitated a double leg amputation below the knee, ABC News reports. Schaffer, who “danced her whole childhood,” according to her brother George Schaffer, suffered multiple broken bones, including a fractured spine, two broken arms, a broken wrist, as well as internal injuries. Their mother also reportedly sustained several broken bones and a lung contusion. Stephanie Schaffer was in a medically induced coma in critical condition Monday, according to ABC, while her family was planning to relocate her to Florida. “We are hoping to get them back to the USA before anymore surgeries have to happen but only time will tell,” George Schaffer wrote on Facebook. Bahamian member of parliament Chester Cooper called the incident a “sad day” for the Bahamas and “for our American friends” in a Facebook post Sunday. “We are saddened and our hearts are hurting, but we will get through this together,” Cooper added. Bahamian authorities are still investigating the cause of the accident, according to AP. Write to Eli Meixler at eli.meixler@time.com.