Lisa Gaines, whose 7-year-old daughter Victoria was among the three children who died when a yacht capsized on a Fourth-of-July boat ride, fought back tears as she relived the nightmare of losing her child in an interview this morning.

Gaines appeared with her husband Paul and their lawyer on NBC’s “Today” show.

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David Auerliano, 12, and his cousin, 11-year-old Harlie Treanor, also died in the tragedy near Oyster Bay.

All three children were playing cards in the boat’s cabin and were trapped when it overturned. Gaines said she believed the cabin “was the safest place” for her daughter.

Gaines said the boat capsized very quickly, sending all 27 passengers into the water.

“It was very fast,” she said. “The boat started to lean and it didn’t recover, and it just went over. I don’t know if we slid off or fell off. I don’t remember.”

Gaines credited her 12-year-old son Ryan with saving her life. After the boat capsized, he grabbed her and helped her swim to a floating chair.

“I was going under,’’ she said. “I don’t swim so he grabbed me. I heard, ‘I got you mom,’ and I grabbed on to him and he helped me swim to a chair that was floating before people got us out.’’

Once in the water, Gaines said she couldn’t see anything but began desperately crying out for her daughter.

“I was just screaming her name to see if she came up because I know she was below us. I was screaming her name just to see if anybody would yell out that they had her.’’

Gaines’ husband, Paul, said he received a call from the local fire department at roughly 11:30 p.m. that night telling him that his wife and son were fine but his daugher was still missing. He arrived at the yacht club at 3:30 a.m.

“At that point I was frantically trying to find my children and trying to get to them,’’ he said. “Nassau County police had me running all over the place to different hospitals. I was calling every hospital possible trying to search for my daughter.’’

Gaines says Victoria and David were the only passengers she saw wearing life jackets. She doesn’t know whether the boat had lifejackets for everyone and did not see where they were located

An investigation into the capsizing is underway and Gaines’ family is hoping to prevent future tragedies by introducing “Victoria’s Law,” which would require boat owners to be licensed and undergo continuing education.

As for the possibility of the Gaines family filing a civil lawsuit, their lawyer said, “that’s the furthest thing from [their] minds at this point in time.”

With AP