Tragedy at Damajagua

[swellsurfcampcabarete]

That seems to be part of the Dominican culture in death; there have been some shocking images released of murders and on the news when the helicopter crash happened nothing was left un-filmed nor unreleased. In my view, it is not right however and apart from accident investigators and post-mortem officials, these images should always be left private. Shame that links to the deceased couple were on DR1 today - for what purpose? So people could stare at these poor souls?

[Thandie]

Originally Posted by Chirimoya

I haven't visited but what would need to be done to prevent something like this from happening again?

at the minimum....as Cheetah and I mentioned tours should not be conducted when there have been a lot of rains (which there have been most of this year in POP), water levels are high and the currents are strong. That is just basic common sense!
But the tour company I took, obviously was more concerned with money from the tour and did not want to cancel it and have to return our money...even though other companies did cancel that day.
As one person mentioned this is the bad side of not having proper rules.

I recall at the resort that week I heard about another close call on a totally different tour from 2 female guests. It was not an adventure tour but I believe just a city sites/town tour. Due to the excessive rains there was a landslide and bridge went out and they had to sail across this river in the night in an old little boat. No life vests. They felt it was unsafe and that they were places in a very dangerous situation. They returned to the hotel at about 1am totally freaked out.

[swellsurfcampcabarete]

I'd like to add before anyone makes the point; NO, I have never opened a link that contains these types of images, even when people have sent them to me who seem to have taken some kind of sick pleasure from seeing that.

[Chirimoya]

To be fair, Lambada did post a warning about the nature of the photos in the article so no-one who did not wish to view the images should have clicked on it. In any case, she has since requested that the link be removed and we are waiting for one of the North Coast forum mods to do so.

It's not just a Dominican thing to publish photos of bodies. In my experience it's the same in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries. In fact I once had a discussion with a Spanish photo-journalist who defended this practice on moral grounds saying that the public - even small children - should not be shielded from the realities. He was speaking mainly in the context of war photography.

On the subject of dangerous excursions, I met a woman a few months ago who went to Cueva Fun Fun in the east and had a terrifying experience because the water levels were so high - her group spent hours up to their necks in water and had to be rescued.


Link removed.

Gregg
Mod.

[Conchman]

Does anybody know the exact circumstances around the tragedy, e.g. did the couple get sucked down a whirlpool or did they get taken by the river as they were crossing it (as one of the papers said)?

[tflea]

The Secretary of Tourism and the Secretary of Medio Ambiante will visit Damajagua Falls on Tuesday to asess, reconstruct the incident to make improvements.
The falls of Damajagua is a beautiful place if properly managed.
In the meantime, the falls are reportedly closed temporarily, is my understanding.

[Cheetah]

Yes, I'd like to know what happenned. Was it at the base of one of the waterfalls? Did a whirlpool suck them under and keep them there?
Was it the first river crossing because that i thought was very difficult. Where were the guides and why did the sons have to jump in, like Mia Wall did for my son when the guides all pannicked...are they still not tranined properly to handle crisis?
I am sure I will be in contact with the sons soon and get to the bottom of this and see what can be done to prevent further death.

[Lambada]

The reason for posting links is that information is available there about the incident. Those who know me know I never post a link to an article with graphic pictures without issuing a warning. This time I received a polite request from someone involved in helping the boys who thought the sons/family might be sent the link accidentally by someone else, so I requested removal and it has been done. Thank you, Gregg.

The following links have no human pictures, the other articles I'll keep back - the first one says the guide rescued the boys (which could answer some of the previous questions in this thread about what the guide was doing)
Salvan hijos; se ahoga una pareja esposos EU en Imbert - ElNacional.com.do

Esposos estadounidenses mueren ahogados en Imbert, Puerto Plata

Vero Beach dentist, wife die in vacation accident : Indian River County : TCPalm

There are references in English language press (in Florida for example) to white-water rafting accident which has to be incorrect:
Vero couple dies in tragic vacation accident |West Palm Beach News, South Florida Breaking News, Forecast, Video from WPTV

This says it happened at the seventh fall
sacandomelao: Dos turistas ahogados en Charcos Damajagua

And this confirms tflea's post that falls are closed, there will be a reconstruction Tuesday and they will be looking at what type of ropes/hanging bridges/staircases or other devices might be needed to aid rapid egress from the water when level rises suddenly.
La República - Cierran balneario donde se ahogó pareja Estados Unidos

[dv8]

i just wanted to mention that in latin culture death is still tamed (see philippe aries) and not savage, like in the western world. thus images of death, even the most gross are perfectly acceptable. people here still die in their houses or with families, coffins are open and a funeral is a public affair.

[k374]

I did all 27 jumps last month with Iguana Mama tours. They are very professional and safe but there are places where the currents are strong, one particular waterfall really pushes you underneath quite strongly and you need to use good muscle power to go out of it. When I was there I saw little kids and overweight people sign up for this tour, really WTF are they thinking?

I am not saying you have to be a bodybuilder to do this tour but you have to have good fitness, good comfort level in the water, good sense of BALANCE (you are tiptoeing on rocks and slipper surfaces). If you hike a good bit, are a good swimmer, are not afraid of heights you will have no problems whatsoever with this tour. Others should just STAY AWAY!