Cruise visitor dies after snorkelling in Eden Rock area
(CNS): A 49-year-old cruise passenger who was visiting the Cayman Islands last Thursday died at the Cayman Islands Hospital in George Town that morning after getting into difficulties snorkelling off the coast of South Church Street in the ocean areas around Eden Rock. At around 10:45am on 27 March, the man, who was snorkeling with a friend, was helped back to shore by other members of the public who were also in the water at the time.
Police and other emergency services responded to the location at South Church Street near Memorial Drive, where the man was brought ashore. EMS and paramedics administered CPR before transporting him by ambulance to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead by the attending doctor.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: Local News
Why can’t the government fund lifeguards at Smiths, Sports, Cemetery and Eden Rock? What great work opportunities and experience for our young and strong Cayman swimmers! Surely this would benefit all of us, and maybe hopefully save a life.
No, it won’t, and no lifeguard is saving anyone having a heart attack hundreds of metres offshore, not even Crooks.
Stop bringing up this waste of money idea please – everything sounds good on paper until it meets practicality. He had friends WITH him in the water who helped him ashore and he still passed! May he rest in peace.
If you need a designated swimming spot with a paid life guard that can immediately pull you out of the water, that’s what POOLS are for. Respect the sea and know your physical limits!
Agree with you. I have spoken to people within the core. It is though to be about liability; if a person goes out on their own and dies, it is on them. If a person goes out on a patrolled area, government might be liable, because there is not a viable measurement of when a person is out too far. If we fund lifeguards, we have to also fund waverunners and many layers of personnel.
More than 40 years ago, I was a lifeguard at Venice Beach, in California. There was extensive training, which could only begin with an already existing skill in swimming. It is an intense thing to advise a floating/swimming person to desist from their course, and come in against their will, and assist them in doing so. A person in distress is dangerous, and will use you as a floatie if they can.
It was a different time. Back then, if you died in the water, it was always your fault.
I think it’s time to post signs on beaches to warn visitors that leading a mostly sedentary lifestyle for 51 weeks out of the year, then trying to snorkel a hundred yards from the shoreline while on vacation is just a bad idea. Too many of these deaths every single year.
Agreed, and can please we stop the stupid suggestion of hiring 200 full time life guards to stay on shore and watch snorkelers have a cardiac event that literally no one could have saved them from besides them choosing to get some steps in and skipping Diary Queen for the 28th time of the month.
Ongoing sadness. I hope you lived your best life, Sir. I hope you came here as a return visitor, just wanting one more swim in the pristine waters. You weren’t so old. We never know when our time is up.