US Tourist dies after snorkelling in GT harbour

| 23/10/2018 | 39 Comments

Cayman News Service(CNS): An as yet unidentified visitor to the Cayman Islands fro the United States died on Tuesday while snorkelling along the George Town waterfront. Police said that at around 10:45am the emergency services responded to the report of a 68-year-old man in difficulty while in the water. When they arrived the man was unresponsive and was taken immediately to the George Town hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The RCIPS said further details would be released later.

2018 is turning out to be a bad year for water-related deaths in Cayman as this person is the 12th victim of the year.

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Any chance of something in the water causing deaths like a jelly fish sting or stingray???

  2. Anonymous says:

    While lifeguards are a good idea and would help with some of the problems..ie near drownings. Unfortunately most of these people that die in the water are older, may or may not have various medical history, and sometimes with no history their bodies don’t do well with the high salt content and they drown in their own secretions before they make it to shore.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    Lifeguards anyone? Hello CIG?

    How many more people have to die?

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    • Ron Ebanks says:

      2 :23 pm , I agree that lifeguard should be at any public beach / snorkelling spot , and any beach where people use daily .

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      • Anonymous says:

        The problem with lifeguards is the liability. If you provide a lifeguard there are more likely to be lawsuits that they weren’t there or they didn’t do enough.

        If there is no lifeguard, it is swim at your own risk and therefore the government would not likely be held liable.

        I’m not saying that we shouldn’t spend more time educating tourists nor am I saying no to lifeguards, just that those are probably the practical reasons, along with how many lifeguards will you provide? Where? This was by Casanova/Cabana. Would lifeguards only be on the beaches? At some point there is a risk that cannot be avoided.

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      • Anonymous says:

        6:20 it’s “ lifeguard(s) buddy got to be more than one don’t you think . One couldn’t cover all the places you mention.

    • Ron Ebanks says:

      What I am seeing here in this issue , is that some people are agreeing on something , but don’t know what they are agreeing on . Here I have asked questions , but they don’t answer them , but would disagree with the questions .

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  4. Anonymous says:

    …..one possible problem is poorly operated dive and snorkel operations! Too many watersports deaths in Cayman over the past decade, in comparison to older days.

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    • Ron Ebanks says:

      Anonymous 1 :58 pm , I agree that is a very big part of the problem , and there are other factors that don’t help the situation . There’s comments on this article, that says we can expect the numbers of these tragic deaths to go up because tourism is growing , so expect more tragic deaths .

      Let me touch on that comment with my 25 years of experience in the water sports and tourism , I started of taking 6 people on my boat, and my boat size and passengers size got much bigger , but as those things grew in my business I had to grow along with them . And in my 25 years of service and taking hundreds of thousands of people on my boat trips , I never had a drowning and my passengers were , inexperienced , young and old , out of shape and I kept them all safe and happy .

      What I think is happening in the situation of what is happening today in the Islands tourism is , people are only seeing their business growing $$$ , but aren’t growing with their business , and are forgetting about the responsibility to the BUTTER of their business . The butter is the people who spends their money in your establishment .

  5. Bertie : B says:

    RIP my friend , blessings to your loved ones , how sad that they have to fly all the way back home knowing that their loved one is in a coffin inside the plane ,,so sad .

  6. Anonymous says:

    …and still no lifeguards!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Why on earth would anyone “thumbs down” lifeguards? The hell is wrong with you?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Common sense is wrong with us! How is a lifeguard going to stop this? Snorkelers are pretty chill in the water already so that’s hard to spot.

        Only lifeguards should be hired by the hotels on the beaches but even then, they can’t stop a heart attack in the water.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Literally thousands of tourists go swimming and snorkeling each year in Cayman. For many, it is one of the few times during the year they are aerobically exercising. And inevitably a few will suffer cardiac arrest.

    This happens everywhere — whether with swimming, skiing, cycling, hiking….and even rushing through a large airport (personally seen this happen three times in MIA). It can be concentrated during vacations as this is often the only time during the year when many physically exert themselves.

    Not a lot one can do — cant give everyone who lands an EKG and blood pressure test.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Most people of this age , typically anyone over 50 years old , would know if they have an inherent medical condition of any type, that may limit their ability to do strenuous exercise. Lots of folks may not know and then a lot do know they have a condition , but don’t do any mitigation to limit their risks. The reality is that you shouldn’t do any risky exercise or activity that may elevate your risk of an episode (of any type) to endanger yourself.

    • Ron Ebanks says:

      Anonymous 11 :55 am , how many people survive that have cardiac arrest , when assistance is on the spot to help the victim ? How many don’t survive , when there’s no assistance on the spot at the time ?

  8. Anonymous says:

    out of shape, no water experience and death by drowning…..usual in tourist industry, nothing can be done to stop this

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    • Ron Ebanks says:

      8 : 26am , you know everything about the issue why the tourist are loosening their live , and would say such a thing , as nothing can be done to stop . What have you tried to do to stop them from loosening their life ? Your comment is very inhume and cruel .

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      • Anonymous says:

        I’m sorry CNS but this Is just preposterous . Ron Ebanks gets the Grammar award of the Year.

        Josh

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        • Anonymous says:

          I was genuinely trying to figure out what he was trying to say but then my eyes hemorrhaged.

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        • Ron Ebanks says:

          Josh , I guess it should be given to you , if that’s all you can contribute in trying to understand the issue . Very small minded .

  9. Anonymous says:

    Are they all “water related victims” or did some just happen to be in the water when something went wrong?

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  10. Ron Ebanks says:

    I give his family my sympathy and prays RIP . Are we doing anything to help try to prevent some of these tagic deaths . Are there any signs warning people to the danger of going into the water alone , who are going into water and loose their life ? Have a life guard system set up yet at these popular snorkeling spots ? Are there anyone who cares to look at the physical condition of the people as they are going into the water .

    These water front establishment , are they showing the visitors who go into water from their property , any Cayman kindness by making sure that people don’t go into water alone . By showing them that the establishment cares for their SAFETY , they could have people available to go into the water snorkeling with them to show them everything on the reef , if they did that the People wouldn’t stop talking about the experience, I am speaking from experience . I know that it’s not the establishment responsibility to be babysitting the people , but when people see that you cares for their SAFETY that is a very big plus for the establishment .

    I know that a heart attack can’t be stopped , but if someone was there to help immediately maybe the person could be saved to see another day .

    Something has to be done because I have never seen these many tragic deaths in the water in my lifetime.

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    • Anonymous says:

      To prevent this people need to know their limits and not play hero in the sea. Also, tourism arrivals keep going up so expect the number of incidents to go up as well.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    Most of the time it’s very inexperienced swimmers from the middle of a big city taking a snorkel out into deep water thinking all is fine and dandy like a walk down Wall Street.. Or people with major health complications playing hero.

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    • Ron Ebanks says:

      Anonymous 9 :40 pm , you have acknowledged that there’s a problem . Do you have any solution to the problem ? Can we get an intelligent debate on the issue, remember that we are trying to solve the problem .

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      • JD says:

        Ron, do YOU have any feasible solution? Lifeguards on every single beach and snorkeling spot sounds good on paper but good luck with that plan.

        There is no solution to this ‘problem’. Activities in the ocean are not risk free even if you’re in a submarine and when one commits to the risk, they take personal responsibility for any consequences.

        Should I choose to hike in an area where there is known to be plenty of bears, that’s on me for taking that risk. There should be no expectation for the US gov to station armed guards on every touristy nature reserve to protect me from a risk I was willing to take.

        In short and blunt, if you REALLY want a solution, Ron, if you don’t want to risk drowning, don’t go into the open ocean.

        • Ron Ebanks says:

          JD , there are so much employment opportunities in helping solve the problem, it would blow your mind .

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    • Anonymous says:

      Most of the time it’s a heart attack. Most of the time it’s not in deep water. Nobody is playing hero. Don’t be an asshat.

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  12. Jared Williams says:

    How did it happen?

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    • Ron Ebanks says:

      Jared , that is a very good question , I think that if we got all of the answers , maybe allot of these tragic deaths could be prevented . We need to know all the details surrounding these tragedies . Just giving the cause of death isn’t enough to help prevent the next one .

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      • Anonymous says:

        7:48 Apparently this week three inquests have been held into water-sports related deaths so maybe they’ll give us some answers about what’s going on.

        One clue might be the age of the victim – I’m the same age and at this point in life you really have to be aware of health and fitness issues because however good a life you’ve led your body is definitely heading over the proverbial hill.

        Put it this way – if anyone my age tells you they’re still as fit as they were at 20 (and I know a few who do) they’re delusional.

        • Ron Ebanks says:

          12 : 15 pm , the inquest would give us some answers , but not all if a full complete investigation weren’t done .
          One clue might be the age of the people . How and what are we doing to protect those people ? We see that you’re old and we have your money and you can go snorkeling is how I am seeing everyone looking at this issue .

          • Anonymous says:

            @Ron Ebanks You got that last bit spot on and it’s not just the snorkel trips, some of the dive operators are just as bad. As long as you can sign the waivers they’ll take anybody out and let them do 100′ wall dives. I’ve been on two-tank trips with elderly (and some not so elderly) divers who were out of air and so exhausted after a 30 minute dive they could barely climb back on the boat but nobody questioned whether or not they were fit to complete the second dive.

            You’re also right about inquests being dependent on a proper investigation. I remember one fatality at a popular shore diving establishment where the staff not only failed to secure the victim’s rental gear for RCIPS but they dismantled it, rinsed it off and put it back in the dive center. The cause of death in that case was pre-existing medical conditions but, rather conveniently, there was no way of determining if any equipment issues had contributed.

            One of the other big problems on these islands is the way a coroner has to brought in to conduct the inquests. This means you’re often looking at well over a year before any facts emerge that might assist with risk assessment and future planning.

            • Ron Ebanks says:

              Anonymous 7 :06 am , thanks for sharing more insight on this subject , and hope that other people get their heads out of cash pan and see that we do have a problem , and understand it and try to solve it .

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