Diving issues raised after death of tourist
PANGLAO ISLAND, BOHOL — The local government of Panglao town has been urged to revisit its tourism policies and strengthen safety measures for visitors who go for diving at the world-famous Balicasag Island to avoid fatal accidents in the future.
Renewed calls for improving diving safety conditions and emergency response mechanisms during accidents came after a Chinese national drowned to death on July 17 while snorkeling at the seawaters off Balicasag Island, a well-visited island under the jurisdiction of Panglao LGU.
Senior Inspector Jomar Pomarejos, Panglao Police Station chief, identified the victim as Qin Lin, 29, who went for snorkeling near the shorelines of a beach in Balicasag Island.
Li's bloated body, with a life vest still attached, was later found by some Balicasag residents floating in the sea, police said. It was not known how she got drowned in an area where everyday hundreds of tourists are seen snorkeling in the area.
Reacting to the incident, Jean Alcover, a female diver who was in Balicasag when the incident happened posted the following scathing questions on her Facebook account:
"While Balicasag island is swarming with tourists charged with exorbitant island entrance fees, why wasn't there any lifeguard around? Why can't tourist guides even identify the names of the people on their own boats or where these people are staying? How about requiring basic life support training for these boatmen and tour guides? Why can't the local government protect its tourists? What happened to the money all these tourists are bringing in everyday?"
In her post, Alcover recalled that she and a European tourist, a physician, who was with her husband, got wind of a drowning incident after they saw a crowd of people milling around the recovered body of the young female Chinese, who was believed to be traveling alone.
"There were no lifeguards or paramedics or anyone else trained in doing CPR. Just me and that European doctor and we both arrived late, only after we saw the crowd," Alcover narrated in her FB post. "After more than 40 minutes of CPR, a 'rescue' boat came. Mind you, it was just a boat – no intubation set, no O2 tank, no medications, no AED."
A team of Panglao Bantay Dagat and Coastguard officers brought the victim to a hospital in Tagbilaran City. An attending physician at the hospital declared the victim dead on arrival.
Holger Horn, a longtime resident of Panglao and president of Philippine Fun Divers, Inc., noted that emergency responders are not properly trained to handle an incident like the recent drowning. "If the right knowledge and skills would have been applied immediately, maybe this poor person could have been saved," Horn said in a Facebook post, referring to the Chinese victim.
Horn claimed that "boat owners and boat crews are not trained in emergency first response, not knowledgeable on how to act like during emergency situations. They must take responsibilities for their customers because they are allowed to deal with them, allowed to sell tourists their services," Horn said.