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Reported Fourth Death in Six Months Related to Punta Norte Marina
A tourist tragically died while snorkeling with Punta Norte Marina on Monday.
The man, named Daniel Alejandro aged 45, was brought back to shore and pronounced dead upon arrival.
At this point, there are differing reports as to the cause of death. Initial suggestions were that he drowned, but other reports are now implying he suffered a cardiac arrest while in the water.
Paramedics spent 30 minutes implementing CPR on the victim, but were unable to resuscitate.
The Mexican national from Monterrey, who was on vacation in the area had left for a snorkeling trip with the company Marina Punta Norte. The tour had been working its way around El meco, when Alejandro was seen floating unconscious in the water.
According to his wife, Mr Alejandro had left on a boat named Helio, but his body was brought back on another boat. At this point, it is unclear as to the turn of events that led to him being brought back on a different vessel.
Several news outlets have reported the tour company as being lax on their safety requirements. , although there is no suggestion at this point that they were responsible in any manner for the death. As to the claims of the company being unprepared, it is unclear as to what evidence is being pointed to, so the claim shall remain speculative. All links to review sites on the company page point straight back to the website itself.
Unfortunately, this is not the first tragic incident recently. At the end of October, a similar incident occurred, where another man with Mexican nationality but resident in the United States, died while snorkeling. The Punta Norte Marina was also involved in this death.
As with many resort areas, tourist drownings are a frequent problem that are increasingly hard to tackle. Most drownings are not attached to organized tours such as this instance, where trained paramedics are often on hand, and many are alcohol related on public beaches.
But the problems are not isolated to the beaches. Just this year, another tragic incident occurred in which a young boy aged only 13 died in a water park when his foot became trapped in a water filter in a lazy river.
His father, a cardiologist did his best to pull him out and resuscitate him, but unfortunately, he passed away the following day.
As Cancun, and Quintana Roo as a whole, becomes an even larger player in the tourism landscape, tackling tourist safety issues will be paramount. In quickly growing markets, infrastructure and safety systems often fall behind the demand for the area.
A range of accidental and culpable deaths from tourists can often highlight some hotel or resort shortcomings. Low balcony rails are an often cited problem in resort towns across the world, which Cancun dealt with earlier as an American teenager fell four stories to her death.
Another lawsuit, from several years ago, saw a young woman die in shallow pool waters in the her hotel after having a reaction to what her parent’s claimed was tainted alcohol. The pool was not being watched by any lifeguard, as many resort pools are.
As more details emerge about the incident, it may become clearer if Punta Norte Marina were in any way insufficient at dealing with the emergency, or if the accident was unavoidable.
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