The Belize Tourism Board maintains that all tour protocols were followed in the case of tourist Karl Simmons. 61 year old Karl Edwin Simmons died on an H2O Tierra Tour on November 17th. He was along with his wife on the tour at Shark Ray Alley in the Caye Caulker Marine Reserve. Simmons and his wife Esther were both in the water but a police report says the current caused Esther to drift away. Simmons went after his wife and that's when he disappeared. His body was later found floating face down. Now the last update on the case was that Tom Wilson, the owner of H2O Tierra , was seeking assistance from the US with the post mortem results because he didn't agree with Dr. Mario Estradabran's findings which showed the cause of death to be "Asphyxiation by Drowning, Incidental". So, have any other tests been done in the US? Is there still an ongoing investigation? We didn't get any official release or interview from Wilson nor the BTB on this case so when we caught up with Valdemar Andrade from the BTB at another event he told us that as far as he is concerned - everything was in place for the safety of the tourists on that tour and that it was just an unfortunate incident.
Valdemar Andrade - Director, Destination Planning & Cruise, BTB
"On that incident just to be clear - one of the reasons we don't give response right away is because we also have to wait on the autopsy and we also have to wait on the official police report. So until we receive that then we respond. But basically that there was an incident. We are still from the autopsy trying to ascertain whether it was drowning or whether there was any negligent. It doesn't seem that there was any negligence in this case. All the different aspects from the emergency response that the operator has to have in place was taken into account. There was also extra EMT's on the boat along with them that were also visitors who also assisted and so from where we sit I think all the necessary care was taken and all the necessary due diligence was taken in that aspect. And we are in communication with the family to let them know what the updates are and from their end also it seems that everything has been clear at this point."
Courtney Weatherburne
"Sir looking at the post mortem examination we spoke with Mr. Wilson, the head or the owner of the tour, he said that they didn't agree with the post mortem results here in Belize as being asphyxiation by drowning incidental. They didn't agree with that. So he told me that they sent results or they are seeking help from the US. Is there any update from that?"
Valdemar Andrade
"No, I don't have an update with respect to any other autopsy that's going to be done or any other testing that's going to be done. In our case, our due diligence is one. We ensure that all the operators' licenses and insurances are in place which they were. We ensure that all the guys are license and up to date, which they were. We ensure that the emergency response that they have on our books was activated on, which they were. We also receive a report from all parties. So we receive a report from their end. We receive a report from the police and so we have done our due diligence according to that and that's basically the response that we provide to you when do so."
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