Apopka pair among dead in bus crash
Apopka neighbors of Christophe and Laura Couallier plan to remember the couple New Year’s Eve with a toast both celebratory and mournful.
“You couldn’t ask for more noble people,” said Bill Thompson, 79, of the couple, who were identified Thursday by government officials as two of the cruise-ship tourists killed in a bus crash in Mexico.
Christophe, 55, and his wife, Laura, 53, were en route with other cruise passengers on an excursion to visit Mayan ruins Tuesday when the bus flipped over on a highway.
Authorities said 11 tourists and a Mexican tour guide died.
Thompson described his neighbors of 15 years as “just wonderful, the most loving people who treated everyone here [in the neighborhood] and even strangers always with great sensitivity.”
He said the New Year’s Eve toast will be the party’s focus to “celebrate the love we shared with those two and [mourn] their loss.”
Thompson said he attended the naturalization ceremony for Christophe Couallier, who was born, raised and educated in France.
“Christophe expressed great pride in gaining his citizenship,” he said. “It’s the great American story … it made me appreciate my citizenship more, what it truly means.”
Thompson said Christophe worked as chief financial officer for the Port Miami Tunnel Project and Laura was a book illustrator.
They were friendly with everyone on the cul-de-sac, hosting a Christmas Eve party at their home last year and often finding an excuse to share a glass of wine or cheese and crackers with neighbors.
Residents of the small, close-knit Apopka neighborhood, located near Lake Alma, frequently celebrated together at holiday parties and often alerted the others if they would be away.
All knew they were taking a cruise with a stop in Mexico.
Thompson said Christophe and Laura were expected back for Christmas and planned to attend a neighborhood New Year’s party.
When neighbors learned of a fatal bus crash in Mexico involving cruise-ship passengers, “we were all hoping that, no, it wasn’t their bus involved or if it was, they were among the injured,” Thompson said. “We prayed for a Christmas miracle that didn’t materialize.”
There was no answer Thursday at Laura Couallier’s graphic-design office in Altamonte Springs nor at Bluehat Consulting Group, where Christophe Couallier is listed as company president.
According to an Associated Press report, the tour bus was carrying 31 passengers. Eight Americans were listed among the dead.
At least 18 others aboard were injured and taken to hospitals.
The majority of the passengers came from two ships belonging to Miamibased Royal Caribbean Cruises: the Celebrity Equinox and the Serenade of the Seas, which both conduct seven-night Caribbean cruises, the company said in a statement.
Laurie Herrmann of Nantucket, Mass., who identified Laura Couallier as a niece, said the Apopka couple had been married for 15 years.
“She was a wonderful person,” Herrmann said. “She was very kind. She was very creative, just very loving and family-oriented.”
“We prayed for a Christmas miracle that didn’t materialize.” Bill Thompson of Apopka, a neighbor of the Coualliers