SENSACIONES
6th December 2008, 08:43
Another tourist died while diving in the Cayman Islands.
Authorities declined to identify the victim, but said he was a 59-year-old American male who was snorkeling off the Reef Resort in East End.
The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) said they responded to a 911 call reporting a missing diver emergency by an employee of Tortuga Divers, which is located at the Morritt's Tortuga Resort.
As paramedics rushed to the scene, searchers found the diver, pulled him ashore and started CPR.
The victim was taken to Cayman Islands Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Police said they are investigating the fatal accident, which was the seventh watersports related death this year.
Murphy's Law
Despite seven diver deaths so far this year, five scuba diving deaths in 2007 and ten diver deaths in 2006, Rod McDowall, Operations Manager of Red Sail Sports, which owns Tortuga Divers, denied the Cayman Islands is a dangerous place to dive and blamed the spate of fatalities on Murphy's Law.
"It's quite tragic but I don't think there's any given reason why we've had a lot this year, I think it's just Murphy's Law," McDowall said.
Trina Christian, Executive Director of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA), expressed her condolences to the victim's family and emphasized that local companies that sell dive trips go beyond "what is required by regulation".
Dive operators ignoring safety regulations
According to liquor store owner Steve Broadbelt, a strident local developer who also owns the Ocean Frontiers dive shop and heads CITA's Watersports Committee, dive operators in the Cayman Islands typically ignore government regulations aimed at enhancing diver safety.
One of the government safety regulations they ignore requires dive boat operators to keep at least one crew onboard, a safety precaution that is common at many popular dive destinations around the world.
The regulation under the Port Authority Law states: "At least one person shall remain on board and act as lookout on any dive–boat or other vessel whilst divers therefrom are down."
Broadbelt said local dive operators refuse to comply with the regulation because they object to the government telling them how to run their businesses and because such regulations have the potential to make dive businesses unprofitable
Authorities declined to identify the victim, but said he was a 59-year-old American male who was snorkeling off the Reef Resort in East End.
The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) said they responded to a 911 call reporting a missing diver emergency by an employee of Tortuga Divers, which is located at the Morritt's Tortuga Resort.
As paramedics rushed to the scene, searchers found the diver, pulled him ashore and started CPR.
The victim was taken to Cayman Islands Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Police said they are investigating the fatal accident, which was the seventh watersports related death this year.
Murphy's Law
Despite seven diver deaths so far this year, five scuba diving deaths in 2007 and ten diver deaths in 2006, Rod McDowall, Operations Manager of Red Sail Sports, which owns Tortuga Divers, denied the Cayman Islands is a dangerous place to dive and blamed the spate of fatalities on Murphy's Law.
"It's quite tragic but I don't think there's any given reason why we've had a lot this year, I think it's just Murphy's Law," McDowall said.
Trina Christian, Executive Director of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA), expressed her condolences to the victim's family and emphasized that local companies that sell dive trips go beyond "what is required by regulation".
Dive operators ignoring safety regulations
According to liquor store owner Steve Broadbelt, a strident local developer who also owns the Ocean Frontiers dive shop and heads CITA's Watersports Committee, dive operators in the Cayman Islands typically ignore government regulations aimed at enhancing diver safety.
One of the government safety regulations they ignore requires dive boat operators to keep at least one crew onboard, a safety precaution that is common at many popular dive destinations around the world.
The regulation under the Port Authority Law states: "At least one person shall remain on board and act as lookout on any dive–boat or other vessel whilst divers therefrom are down."
Broadbelt said local dive operators refuse to comply with the regulation because they object to the government telling them how to run their businesses and because such regulations have the potential to make dive businesses unprofitable