Sea claims life of second tourist this month
North West Point area in West Bay
(CNS): A 54-year-old man visiting the Cayman Islands died Tuesday afternoon following a dive off North West Point in West Bay, police have confirmed. Michael D. English from Colorado Springs, Colorado, in the US is the second tourist to die in the water so far this year after a visitor died last week after snorkelling at Cemetery Beach, also in West Bay. Yesterday, the 911 Emergency Communication Centre received a call around 2pm about a diver who was experiencing difficulties.
Police and other emergency services responded and found that CPR was already being administered by the dive crew. CPR was continued by emergency staff and the diver was transported to the George Town hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Category: Local News
I am very sorry to hear about a other tragic death I give the family my condolences.
@ Lily, you have a valid point, if this was happening in the US , the postmortem would say what drugs were in his /her system, and the cause of death, and the investigation would say about insurance policies, and other motives that could have lead to the death .
In Cayman the conclusion would be he drown, while all the time kind of thing is destroying the reputation of the Islands as a safe travel destination .
Again I wonder if everyone in tourism is taken this issue seriously to correct it .
Did it really? Or did heart failure claim it’s second tourist this month?
The politicians know how horrific the death rates are in Cayman’s waters but they also know that it is an industry owned by local families who vote. So they will not take steps to regulate properly or prevent local companies hiding behind exclusions of liability. So one can expect this sort of sad story pretty much on monthly or fortnightly basis.
This has nothing to do with cayman or how they are regulated. As the previous comment states these are mostly men who are in their 50s or older. Maybe padi should require their divers who are over 50 to have a medical exam periodically to keep their certificate valid.
This isnt like regulating drunk driving or motorists which is a public privilage . If you lie on your waiver and are willing to jump in the water that should be your responsibility.
Another factor has to be safety standards in the watersports industry – or lack thereof. The elephant in the room that no one wants to query!!!
RIP visiting diver and condolences to his family
I hope you are not referring to this incident as Water sport’s operator related , as the story states the victim was snorkelling off Cemetery Beach . No operators run off this location. Individuals are free to enter the water of their own free will , as they are also free to choose not to enter the water.
Not even made it through the first month of 2016 and already 2 water-related deaths.
One thing I have noticed with these water-related deaths is all the people are all over 50 years of age.
Age is a factor here…
Cheers Captain Obvious.
The main cause of these deaths is that people lie on the disclaimer they sign as it relates to any illness they have, previous surgeries they had, or current issues they experience etc.
If they actually answered them correctly, they wouldn’t be allowed in the water to begin with. But who wants to tell the truth when you have stingrays to frolic with, turtles to hold onto and ride or fishes to feed whilst on your dream holiday in the Caribbean?
If disclaimers were banned for negligence and divers were required to provide a medical certificate then these deaths would be drastically reduced. But that would harm profits and therefore it is not going to happen.
What is this disclaimer you are going on about? One of these people walked across the sand & got into the ocean, how can someone be at fault? What are you proposing a government working standing on all the beaches controlling who should be allowed into the sea?