Tourists Drown as 7 Dragged by Strong Currents at Marine Reserve

Tragedy strikes a group of tourists while vacationing in Belize as seven of them are dragged by the strong currents at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, off the island of Ambergris Caye, leaving two dead on Tuesday, April 3, 2012.

Five of the seven tourists were rescued after seven of them were dragged out into the channel and into open waters at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. They were on a snorkeling day tour on board Caye Caulker’s Cyclone vessel of Tsunami Tours when the incident took place at around midday.

Shortly after the five people were rescued the body of a woman was retrieved from the water and taken to the Dr. Otto Rodriguez Poly Clinic where she was confirmed dead on arrival. According to bystanders, the woman was being given CPR at the dock when they arrived to the island, a visiting doctor tried to render assistance but police did not allow him to do so.

The search for the second missing tourist took about two hours until finally the body of a male person was pulled out from the water. The five people rescued were identified as 54-year-old Rebecca Burger, her son 17-year-old Zack Burger of the United States; 59-year-old David Florencia an Italian and two Canadian citizens 25-year-old Laurence Tastet and 29-year-old Yanik Doyon. Police later discovered the bodies of 54-year-old American National Roger Burger and an Italian national Zayihe Florencia.