Roatan Zip Line Death (MERGED THREADS)

[Canopy Colin]

When a tragedy like this occures in the tourism industry, it sends a ripple effect through the entire industry.

I am a High Ropes Course Director and builder, and was previously working as a Canopy Tour Guide in Puerto Vallarta. I have years of ropes course and climbing experience, a degree in Outdoor Persuits from the leading Adventure Education school in the US, and am a member of the Association for Challenge Course Technology, or ACCT. The ACCT recently (February) brought Canopy Tours into their spectrum of oversight. I'd like to make a few observations, and gather some information in hopes of helping to create a safer atmosphere for Canopy Tours. This said, I'd like to clarify some misunderstandings that may be circulating among people outside of the climbing industry.

 

First off, harnesses rarely fail. In fact, true harness failures are almost unheard of outside of strenuous, controlled tests. A number of years ago, the movie Cliff Hanger brought about huge law suits because of their portrayal of a breaking climbing harness. MOST are designed to break at a minimum of 5,000 lbs. There are, however, cheap knockoffs of anything, including climbing gear.

 

Secondly, cables rarely fail. Most cables in the industry are steel airline cables, rated for a breaking strength of nearly 12000 lbs. If you believe that the combined weights of someone who "lied" about her weight, and a canopy guide weighing at maximum 200 lbs had enough force to break a cable, you may wan't to do a bit more research. Other cables that are used are plastic sheethed "Vectra" rope, with a 30,000 breaking strength.

 

Third, if the cable did break with both of their body's on the line, what happened to the guide?

 

Fourth, canopy tours often use a divice called a "Cola de vaca" or Cows Tail. It is basically an extention of climbing webbing stitched together to create a back-up device designed to hold the participant on the cable or pullies. It is attached between the harness and the pullies/cable with high-strength caribiners.

 

Fifth, in the Challenge Course world, 90% of all accidents happen because of facilitator (guide) error, and most happen to the guides themselves. I'm certain that this is true in the canopy tour world as well.

 

Some suggestions before you go on a Canopy Tour.

 

1. Always take responsibility for your own safety. If you are touring internationally, especially in developing and underdeveloped nations, be aware that levels of safety may differ significantly than in your own country.

 

2. Find out if they follow the guidelines of A.C.C.T. , UIAA (United International Alpine Association, and/or the European Standards of Operations. If not, forget it, unless you are an experienced climber, guide, etc. yourself.

 

3. Investigate, inspect, involve yourself. Look at your gear and your families gear. Are the harnesses freyed and worn looking? Are the stitches coming undone? Are caribiners dented, cracked, rusty? Are the cables/connections rusty? Do things look professional? Are the helmets in relatively good condition?

 

4. Know your guides. Are they stoned? Do they smell like drugs/alcohol, or are they fatigued from partying all night before? Are they concerned about your safety, or about making tips?

 

5. Follow their guidelines, and pay attention to the training. They should be clear and deliberate. If you don't understand something, ask until you are clear.

 

Hopefully, these tips and tid-bits can help all of you enjoy a safer experience in the canopy tour world. It's an amazing, thrilling and enlightening experience, but it has inherrant risks.

 

Peace to the family...

[BeachBumMama]

Thanks so much for the info. I've been trying to figure out what to look for to make sure things are safe, as this accident and how it happened is hazy at best. Thanks again.

[GMAN42]

I've spoken with many friends and colleagues and they do not think I should go any farther. So, I will post what I know. Furthermore, as soon as a post this the cruise line and zip-line company will know who I am. However, I've always done the right thing!! So, here we go.

My spouse and our friends were approximately 8 to 12 people behind "Mrs. F" (the lady that fell). She can be described as overweight woman but not obese. See was between 200 and 240lbs and 5ft 5in to 5ft 8in. She was fitted with a harness around her hip/waist and legs. Mrs. F also was fitted with a harness that gave her extra back support, i.e. the shoulder harness. I notice the shoulder harness because someone in our party also had one, and we talked about it. She zipped from the original platform to the second platform without much difficulty. Within just a few minutes the main operator answered the phone and said "donde". (I'm not sure of the spelling, but I knew that it meant "where"). I immediately had that "bad feeling". The main operator continued to let additional people to zip down the first line.

Within a couple of minutes, workers started to zip down the line and jump off the platform running down the steep embankment. The main operator called all of us together, and let us know that an accident had occurred and that the course was now closed. I informed the main operator that I could help. (make your own conclusions here)....As I got to the lady, a young kid was supporting her which prevented her from falling further. I asked several times about EMT and/or ambulance. I was informed

it was on the way. I instructed one of the workers to hold her head still. I felt helpless as no other medical personnel were available, nor was any "normal" medical equipment available...i.e. cervical collar, back-board, etc.

We logged rolled her onto a "scoop" stretcher, and had about 12 young guys to move her up the hill. Please note that I had to unhook the "safety" clip from the cable. The cable was on the ground. Furthermore, her harness strapped to her waist/hips/legs was still intact. I cannot recall seeing the shoulder harness...So, if "the harness broke", then it may have been the shoulder harness.

To further dampen the "broke harness" story, a worker had also fallen. He was hurt but remained conscious. Along with 3 to 4 other guys, we took this worker who was between 14 to 18, up the hill.

So, I ask this: If it was the harness that broke, why did both of them fall. I want to make sure that everyone knows that I did not see the incident. I just cleaned up the mess.

Please be aware of getting hurt in another country! The standard protocols are not the same. There were no medically trained personnel. No rescue plan. And no means to get someone out within a timely matter. The whole incident from start to finish was approximately 45 minutes.

 

My heart goes out to the family. They will always be in our prayers.

 

I want to apologies for communicating in an open form, but I want to make sure you know what happened. THE WHOLE STORY!!

 

Post #73 appears to be a friend of the family.

 

Hopefully they'll read this and respond to you.

 

Is there any info you can share now? We're all curious as to what went wrong and what if anything we should be aware of with these companies. All we have now are incomplete or inaccurate media reports (reports). Some 1st hand knowledge would be helpful to all.

[Preds]

Thank you for the 1st hand account. Very sad story. Seeing as you were part of the rescue operation, this can't be easy on you. Your input is helpful to all of us who have done or are considering again doing a zip line tour.

 

My thoughts are with you, as well as Mrs. F's family.

[maddea20]

All I can say is WOW! I mean unbeliveable. This would be my worst nightmare. To think your doing something that you believe is relatively safe and then... Wow! Before I read this story I was truly comptemplating ziplining at some point on a future cruise, but now, no way. I can't go along with the people who say things like "if I'm going to die doing this then so be it". Sorry, that's crazy talk to me. I'm good. I'll just go to the beach or something, lol. I'm not really afraid of heights like that, but I just can't see myself ziplining knowing that there is a chance the cable can snap. And on top of that, I never felt that ziplining was all that safe anyways. Something about it just seems so amateur as if anyone can just tie some wire to trees and call it a zipline, I don't know.

[hungt23]

Here is the link to this story on the front page of this website:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2469

 

May God bless the families involved.

[GMAN42]

THANK YOU FOR THE POST!!!!

 

This is probably the most accurate/realistic account of the accident. AND it makes sense!! The cable broke not the lady's harness! (At least not the waist/hip/leg harness)

 

I want to make sure that the workers who helped this lady up the hill are recognized. There were, maybe, a dozen or so....They carried her approximately 100 to 150 yards straight uphill! They did everything in their power to do the right thing!

 

Here is the link to this story on the front page of this website:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2469

 

May God bless the families involved.

[halos]

THANK YOU FOR THE POST!!!!

 

This is probably the most accurate/realistic account of the accident. AND it makes sense!! The cable broke not the lady's harness! (At least not the waist/hip/leg harness)

 

I want to make sure that the workers who helped this lady up the hill are recognized. There were, maybe, a dozen or so....They carried her approximately 100 to 150 yards straight uphill! They did everything in their power to do the right thing!

 

Thank you for giving us accurate information. I'm sorry that you had to witness this. It must have been horrifying for everyone there.

The whole thing is so very sad. :(

[boowaaccaa]

Hey there, not sure if I can shead much more light on the situation or not but here is what I know. We were in Roatan the day after the accident(for 5 days)...locals weren't really talking about it, however, we were able to ask the resort staff kinda tricky questions (pretending to know more then getting some info) as it was reported in their local paper--- so we did find out that she (tragically) died and then after the tourists started to spread various 'facts' of the accident. Our resort was a 10 walk on the beach to Gumbalimba Park. Anyways we asked if we could still go to the actual park (they also have a monkey attraction) and we were told no it was indeed closed indefinalty.

 

We talked to the scuba instructors regarding this accident and they said this is NOT the first and in fact there have been a few fatal accidents this year--------I am not trying to be a fear monger--more relay this info. Not sure also how true as I have googled and tried to find more info but I can't.

 

My heart goes out to her family.

[tess2cruz]

I did zip line in Puerto Vallerta, and that one has a line that is 500 ft high, and I loved the thrill. But the thrill IS that it is dangereous, like sky diving, base jumping etc. People die on roller coasters, but we still do it.

 

My heart does, however, go out to the family, especially the son who witnessed it. It is tragic.

 

I will still do it in Oct, we plan to do it in Belize. but I am sooooo on a diet!!!;)

[J & G]

We, too, ziplined in Roatan (in January of this year), but at South Shore Canopy. I'm glad we did it, but we won't be doing it again anywhere!

 

Barbie's obit was in the Houston Chronicle this morning. http://www.legacy.com/houstonchronicle/DeathNotices.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=106417457

 

I'm not sure why, but suddenly she has gone from an obscure person somewhere in the world to someone that is in our own neighborhood. When an event like this strikes someone "close to home" it seems to make the event all the more sad and tragic! Not sure why that is, but I guess it's just human nature.

 

My heart goes out to her family! May God be with them in this awful time!

[Jeanne B]

Thanks, I saw that article and it was horrible what happened. However, it is not what we heard. While in Cozymel, a couple told us that at our last port, Belize, a Norwegian Cruise tour operator had told them that he received word from Norwegian that a 14 year old girl from our ship was raped in Roatan. Like I said, I hope this is not true.

 

Getting off topic here but I read this same general statement a week or so back and it baffles me...our DD is 14 and there's no time during our day in Roatan a few weeks ago that she was not with us and I never would have let her go off anywhere by herself. It just makes me wonder if this is indeed true, where were the parents?

[bunnyette]

Wait a minute- some have said freak accident / not tour company's fault????

If her safety clip was undone, wasnt her safety in jeopardy? (also adding the combined weight adding stress to the same point on the line)

We did zip-lining in Dominican Republic and they taught how to go hand-over-hand on the line if you braked and "stalled"

 

I went zip-lining during a land vacation in Jamaica and the guides taught us the same thing. And I am no featherweight but had no problems at all, it was the slim gals who got stuck as they could not get the momentum going, the hefty gals were able to really "zip" along. Never did a guide come out on the zip line to push us along, once they tugged the line to get one of the lightweights moving.

[TXKristi]

My heart goes out to this family and their many friends and relatives during this painful time.

 

We participated in this same excursion during January of 2007 and it turned out to be our favorite. I was concerned before we participated about my weight because I was close to the limit; however, there were several people there to participate that were much larger than me. One woman in particular began to "chicken out" as they were getting her attached to the cables and then one of the guides talked her into to going with him. Our guides taught us the "hand over hand" maneuver as well, which I had to use on the last cable because it was almost horizontal to the ground.

 

Equipment failure/human error is always in the back of my mind when it comes to any adventurous activity that involves a potential risk.

[kryos]

And why in the world would there be a difference?

 

Weight is weight. It doesn't matter what your sex is, you weigh what you weigh!

 

:rolleyes:

Some activities, such as skydiving, may have different weight limits. This is because a man that weighs 200 pounds will probably be in better shape than a woman weighing 200 pounds. Generally a woman at 200 pounds will have a lot of that as fat, while with the man it could be all muscle.

 

There are some activities where injuries can occur as a result solely of being out of shape. So a skydiving school may take a man who weighs 220, yet refuse a woman with the same weight.

 

They are just trying to prevent unncessary injuries.

 

Don't know if this would apply to ziplining, though ... I don't know enough about the activity.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[mbardsley]

I posted a few comments on the other thread about this. I was on the NCL Spirit in Nov, and did a write up and review about this zip line. I used to climb when I was much younger, so am familier with the equipment. They do use 2 cables, but that does not mean you are hooked up to both!!!! I got into it with some of the employees at the stations for not hooking me up to the 2nd cable. Near the end i stopped trying to fight with them. I would say at least 20% of the zip runs, I was only hooked up to 1 cable, It all falls on the employees. This accident WOULD not have happened if she was not hooked up to the safety line, but what can you do, its a 3rd world country, with no building codes, or things we are used to, so we count on the cruise lines to set us up with our fun. I hope that this family goes all out for NCL, maybee that way the rest of us can be safer! My 2 pennies worth.

[cruisnpat]

This is so tragic, Have been praying for the family. Had never thought about doing the zip line but if I had I would put that out of my mind.

[MWC]

Roatan Zip Line Operation

I was on the Guambalimba (sp?) zipline from a Carnival cruise in December. The operation AS DESIGNED looked safe. However, after 2 legs of the adventure, the operators stopped using the safety backup line, instead hooking the safety connection to the main cable. I questioned this and was brushed off. After two of what I considered unsafe "legs" (and difficulty in controlling speed because of wear grooves in the gloves provided), I felt uncomfortable enough that I wanted OFF. I was escorted by a staff member down the zipline, thus doubling the weight on that main cable. Very scary....

 

I notified Carnival IN WRITING of my safety concerns through written comments on the cruise line feed back form. How tragic that a woman died from unsafe operation observed by myself and others who have written on this forum.

[ChBoxers800]

And I was on it the day before this tragic accident and felt 100% safe. All safety lines were carefully attached to the separate cables each and every time. Even while on the platforms, safety lines were attached to the platform railings. Harness was secure and had no visable wear. Gloves were in good shape and braking was very easy. Perhaps the above two posters complaining did make a change in their normal procedure.

 

Human error and failing cable's cause this tragedy. This should be a warning to everyone. Look at the conditions of equipment and watch procedures. If you don't like what you see, or are concerned about safety practices, don't remain silent. Demand that proper precautions be taken and if you get no results, refuse to do the activity.

 

I 100% disagree with the person who says that the family should go after NCL. This zipline is used EXCLUSIVELY by the cruise lines....all of them. It was luck of the draw that this poor lady was an NCL passenger. If NCL is guility of something, so are the other cruiselines. This was a tragic accident by an independant operator that really has no connection to any cruise line. A waiver was also signed stating that it could be a risky activity. It's not like the cruiselines convince you that you are going on a walking tour and then surprise you by putting you on an activity that has some risks. No one responsible for this except the Gumbablimba tour operators either by faulty equipment and/or human error.

[LoLa_in_GA]

Some activities, such as skydiving, may have different weight limits. This is because a man that weighs 200 pounds will probably be in better shape than a woman weighing 200 pounds. Generally a woman at 200 pounds will have a lot of that as fat, while with the man it could be all muscle.

 

There are some activities where injuries can occur as a result solely of being out of shape. So a skydiving school may take a man who weighs 220, yet refuse a woman with the same weight.

 

They are just trying to prevent unncessary injuries.

 

Don't know if this would apply to ziplining, though ... I don't know enough about the activity.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

amen.

my husband probably won't be able to zip, because of his weight. (he is disappointed).

 

he weighs 275 pounds. he is NOT overweight--he is truly a large, muscular guy. he exercises daily to stay in shape, and would fit into a harness (he still wears 36 inch jeans...of course the inseam is 36 as well LOL). this is his natural weight-and no doctor has ever told him he needs to lose weight...

 

i am not comfortable with anyone in my family zipping. my sons (well under the limits) are still gung ho....i too feel that while you can die doing anything, why increase your chances by doing something that is in fact, more dangerous than those every day activities that can kill us?

 

....just pondering....

[kebboli]

My husband too weighs about 255-260 but still wants to go......... we had contacted Victor and were told he would be fine (weeks ago) It was my idea to do this but now after this terrible tragedy I am of course nervous........

We are suppose to do Jungle Canopy. We will be there I think April &th.

My thoughts and prayers are with her family........

[ASA0413]

My husband and I visited Costa Rica in the summer of 2006 and I forced my reluctant husband to zipline. At the time I teased and made fun of his reaction, maybe even calling him wimpy a time or two. Luckily we were both fine after our adventure.

 

A year later the summer of 2007 we returned to Costa Rica again, to the same hotel we stayed at the prior year where we did the zipline. My husband was wandering through the un-disturbed rainforest behind the hotel when he heard a crash. He is a police officer and ran to find out what happened. At the bottom of the creek lay a woman who fell to her death from the zipline. Due to heavy rains the day before, the tree that secured the zipline could not longer support the weight and slid down the side of the mountain. This poor woman fell to her death and several others were severly injured.

 

There are so many ways to enjoy the nature and the beauty, and we will never zip-line again!!!

[LHP]

I never thought about the trees giving away from to much rain, especially if they have lines that run onto trees on the hillsides.

 

Hubby and oldest son did it in Puerto Vallarta. They did an independent tour that is owned by an American. They felt very safe....but again, who can predict which tree will give away after to much rain????

[Host Kat]

Please take a look at the Cruise Critic feature article by Michael Potter, Assistant Editor. It refers to the above Sticky thread and poll at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=743329.

 

What to Expect: Zip-line Safety

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/features...les.cfm?ID=660

 

Thanks to all for your participation!

Kat

[mckinna]

We did the Jungle Canopy tour last week with Victor Bodden. We only had one line- not 2. Is that normal? I've looked at the pictures some of you have posted, and I see 2 lines on some, and 1 line on others. We weren't very high up, but still, if the one line had broken, it wouldn't have been good. I felt very safe, and we would like to do this again, but should we only do the ones with 2 lines? This was our first time to do this, so we really didn't know what to expect or look for.