A Coroner’s Jury returned a verdict of misadventure after hearing details of a drowning at Stingray City in 2004.
Queen’s Coroner Margaret Ramsay-Hale conducted the inquest into the death of Thomas Koleszar, 57, of Georgia, USA.
The jury heard a statement by the deceased’s wife, who said they had arrived in Grand Cayman on 3 March 2004 aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship.
They boarded the vessel Cockatoo for a trip to Sand Bar/ Stingray City. When they got there, she could not touch bottom. There were a lot of people in the water and fish and stingrays, so after about 10 minutes, she told her husband she was going back onto the boat.
He nodded his head. By that time they had gone a distance from the boat. After she was on board a few minutes, she saw a commotion in the water. It appeared as if people were pulling somebody out of the water onto another boat.
She asked a crew member if it was her husband and he told her no. She looked for her husband in the water but could not see him. She then reported it to a crew member.
Mr. Martin Sanders gave evidence in person. On the day of the incident, he was working aboard the vessel Wave Raker, which had carried guests to Sting ray City.
For safety reasons, he stayed on the boat to keep an eye on everyone. He heard some shouting for help on the port side. He looked over and saw two men with another man whose face was down in the water.
He immediately jumped in, turned the man over and pulled him to the back of the boat. He removed the man’s mask, which was full of blood or blood with water.
He called for assistance and another crew member began administering CPR. He got emergency equipment ready and called 911.
A Kirk Sea Tour vessel was anchored opposite and the captain called over to see if they needed help because he had a family of paramedics on board. Mr. Sanders said yes.
While the man was being worked on, Mr. Sanders contacted another of Beach Club’s boats, the Macaw.
It didn’t have a lot of people on board, so Mr. Sanders said he took the Macaw guests and the Macaw took the patient to shore, with one or more of his crew members carrying on the CPR until paramedics met the boat and continued the patient’s care.
Mr. Sanders took a head count on his boat and found he was not missing anyone. He asked if anyone was missing a friend or relative. The Cockatoo called him and said a lady reported that she was missing her husband. All boats do head counts before leaving, he said.
The coroner asked about the weather that day. Mr. Sanders said there was a slight chop, but it wasn’t bad.
He said he backed into the Sand Bar so that people could get into the water at about four feet. Sometimes, when it was busy, it was difficult to anchor at a convenient place. ‘When you’ve got 20 boats, it’s tough to find a spot sometimes,’ he said.
Sometimes the current can cause a swimmer to drift, he added. The boats have a stern anchor to stay in one place.
This was not the first drowning death at the Sand Bar, he confirmed.
The autopsy report, prepared by Dr. Nadia Williams, said there was no history of previous illness, no sign of violent injury. Blood and alcohol tests were negative. The heavy weight of the lungs and frothing in the airways were findings consistent with drowning.
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