More Fatal Accidents in Mexico...Is the Vacation Worth it?

by Michelle Says So | June 12, 2008 at 02:50 pm | 330 views | add comment

More of my rants on vacation dangers. Yes, you are thinking..."This could happen anywhere..."

Sure, this could happen ANYWHERE. But just look at the negligence and the lackadaisical attitude the Mexican authorities have towards tourists. I highly doubt we would get that service from our own United States authorities.

Once the Mexicans have their money, they don't care. Why should they? They have never been held responsible for the atrocities that their country has caused to tourists before. When will it start? Will it have to be people like me standing up and causing havoc?

(CBS/ AP) A Texas high school girl died Tuesday after being flown home in a coma after nearly drowning when a snorkeling tour boat began sinking near Cancun, Mexico, this weekend.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed the death of Lisa Thang Chung, 18. She had been flown to Dallas on an air ambulance along with her parents, said Luis Raymundo Canche, assistant prosecutor for the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

(Aside: I personally know someone who was brutally attacked and raped in Can Cun. After going to a hospital in critical condition, it was just a false hope and facade. She was taken by Can Cun authorities and immediately flown back to the United States to "deal with the situation". Is Can Cun doing this to tourists in order to keep their dirty hands out of the negative statistical records? It's a no brainer that a tourist attraction can't afford bad press. Is it they don't want to be liable? Perhaps they didn't have the expertise of something I learned as a MINOR...it's called CPR!?

It's complete negligence...please think twice before leaving this country...especially south of the border.)

Chung suffered heart and lung failure after nearly drowning Saturday when the catamaran she was aboard sank between Cancun and Isla de Mujeres.

"She was so very, very happy, and that's why I gave her a trip to Cancun," Lisa's mother Oanh Chung told CBS News affiliate KTVT. "When she came back, she was ready to go to Baylor, and then she said that's her future."

WILD WATER?

KTVT reports that Chung was in the water and wearing a life jacket when she was struck by a rescue boat. Several other teens who were on the snorkeling expedition stated they had close calls with other boats after they abandoned ship. Jackie Filippi told Chen that she and others had to jump off of the life raft they had taken refuge on after a larger vessel almost collided with them.

"It was a bigger boat coming in trying to tow the boat that was sinking," she said. "We were just floating and they came very close to us and we yelled at them, but they didn't move, so we jumped off our lifeboat and swam to just random boaters."

Saya Arakawa had a similar experience after jumping into the water and swimming to a lift raft to await help. "But then the boat that was towing our boat that sank, it started getting closer to us," she said. "We were like trying to tell them to move, but they just kind of stared at us. I don't know if they understood us or not. So we had to evacuate from our life raft and just started swimming."

Authorities said they were investigating whether the "Sea Star" catamaran was overloaded.

GradCity spokesman Jason Chute said the snorkeling excursion was part of a package trip organized by the U.S. tourist agency. GradCity has sent 32 chaperones and nearly 500 high school students to Cancun this summer, Chute said.