Roatan Zip Line Death (MERGED THREADS)

[ChBoxers800]

The main line broke. The safety line broke one week before.

 

 

This is 100% INCORRECT information. We rode the same zipline on March 17th, the day before and the safety line was in perfect operating condition.

[Lib0007]

She was well under the weight limit of 225. However, a guide got on with her and that put them over the weight limit. But the second line for saftely had broke the week before.

 

 

 

Is this the weight limit for men also?

[ChBoxers800]

Sorry to be posting so many times on this topic, but I keep seeing more and more odd information in these posts.

 

It sounds from the eyewitnesses that the guide that came to retrieve her came from BEHIND her. If that was the case, he would have to get around her to grasp her with his legs and pull her down to the next platform. There is no way he could pull her back up the steep incline. And the only way around her would be for him to disconnect her safety attachment from the 2nd cable. This makes no sense whatsoever to me as his attachment to the main cable would still be behind her.

 

In both of the instances I saw when 2 of our group got stuck, the guides came to rescue from the lower platform which automatically put them in front of the person. No lines had to be disconnected.

 

This is sounding more and more like a real error on the part of this guide.

 

If you want to see a couple more pictures of the actual zip line, I've posted some at:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/ChBoxers800

 

Just click on "cruise" and when the previews come up, look for the ones that say "zip lining" so you don't have to scroll through a bunch of pictures of people you don't know! :D

[Denisern2]

Not sure what the source of this information is but it is nearly a week old and much of it has been discounted in the interim.

Everyone was wondering if it was the harness or the cable. This was posted on events at sea. States it was the harness. I was just there two weeks ago and we also had a person jump off our cruise ship so I was checking events at sea. Sorry if my info was irrelivent just trying to help gather info.

[Aprille]

Sorry to be posting so many times on this topic...

Please don't apologize! I want to thank you for shedding more light on the subject. It's nice to have some first-hand knowledge of the course and it's typical rescue procedure. And definitely thanks for speaking to the safety cable still being in operation. I thought that sounded fishy. I can't imagine they would continue to keep the zip line open if the safety cable broke!

 

P.S. That Aiden is a cutie! I especially like the picture of him in shades. :cool:

[Islandbuoy]

My DTR is planning on ziplining from Carn Legend 4/13 sailing--does anyone know if Carn has cancelled ziplining in Roatan??

[emperorjoshua]

Hey Tina, I was totally on the Legend with you!

[halos]

There is no way he could pull her back up the steep incline.

 

I don't know what happened to this poor woman, but I can tell you that what you have posted above is completely false.

My zip line 'fiasco' (in Costa Rica) happened because on the 3rd line, the first guide zipped down...and crashed into a tree that had fallen on the cable. (we couldn't see that the tree was on the cable from the platform) He made his way back up the line. (pretty battered and bruised) My husband, myself and both guides had to then make our way BACK UP the two lines we had zipped down. There was one point where my DH and both guides were on the line at the same time (I shudder over this now after hearing of this fatal accident) and they had to help him back UP the cable. I don't recall there being a safety line either..I'll have to go back and look at pics)

So, it is not impossible and during a situation like we encountered, where there is NO OTHER WAY DOWN...you do have to work your way back up.

And yes, if you need help, they guide will wrap his legs around you...it's the only way.

It is NOT easy.

 

I don't think we had a safety cable :eek:

[NCTribeFan]

Is this the weight limit for men also?

 

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:

[Aprille]

My DTR is planning on ziplining from Carn Legend 4/13 sailing--does anyone know if Carn has cancelled ziplining in Roatan??

My guess would be if the excursion is at Gumalimba Park, it has been cancelled. Unless they have provided for one of the other zip line operators to take over previously booked excursions.

 

My zip line 'fiasco' (in Costa Rica) happened because on the 3rd line, the first guide zipped down...and crashed into a tree that had fallen on the cable. (we couldn't see that the tree was on the cable from the platform) He made his way back up the line. (pretty battered and bruised) My husband, myself and both guides had to then make our way BACK UP the two lines we had zipped down. There was one point where my DH and both guides were on the line at the same time (I shudder over this now after hearing of this fatal accident) and they had to help him back UP the cable. I don't recall there being a safety line either..I'll have to go back and look at pics)

So, it is not impossible and during a situation like we encountered, where there is NO OTHER WAY DOWN...you do have to work your way back up.

[anaslile]

My DTR is planning on ziplining from Carn Legend 4/13 sailing--does anyone know if Carn has cancelled ziplining in Roatan??

 

I just checked Carnival and it is listed as a shore excursion. However, it isn't listed as bookable for my 4/20 Legend sailing, but that could be because it has 'sold out' already. I don't know why Carnival would cancel the excursion unless Gumbalimba is physically unable to offer it because of the accident (doubtful).

 

If your daughter really wants to zip, there are a number of tour operators who you could arrange to do a tour with that owuld bring your DTR zipping while you are at the beach.

[GMAN42]

I was at the Zip Line Excursion when this tragic event happened. There are many details that have been left out. Before posting additional information and causing greater sorrow and grief, I need to contact the husband. Can some one help? I will look at this board everyday for the next 7 days (Until April 1st). Thanks to everyone. (THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!!)

[Preds]

I was at the Zip Line Excursion when this tragic event happened. There are many details that have been left out. Before posting additional information and causing greater sorrow and grief, I need to contact the husband. Can some one help? I will look at this board everyday for the next 7 days (Until April 1st). Thanks to everyone. (THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!!)

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

I was on this excursion at Gumbalimba... my mother, boyfriend, and myself were the last to zip before Barbie. We heard that she got stuck in the middle, and a guide came along to help her. He undid her safety clip so that he could get in front of her to taxi her along to the next platform. While this was happening, the line fell. I think the combined weight of the guide and Barbie was too much... she was not over the weight limit. She didn't regain consiousness, and she died in a hospital on the mainland.

 

Her two kids and husband are just in shock... all of us are. No one expected this to happen. Our families were vacationing together on the Spirit and we miss her so much.

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.

[ChBoxers800]

I don't know what happened to this poor woman, but I can tell you that what you have posted above is completely false.

My zip line 'fiasco' (in Costa Rica) happened because on the 3rd line, the first guide zipped down...and crashed into a tree that had fallen on the cable. (we couldn't see that the tree was on the cable from the platform) He made his way back up the line. (pretty battered and bruised) My husband, myself and both guides had to then make our way BACK UP the two lines we had zipped down. There was one point where my DH and both guides were on the line at the same time (I shudder over this now after hearing of this fatal accident) and they had to help him back UP the cable. I don't recall there being a safety line either..I'll have to go back and look at pics)

So, it is not impossible and during a situation like we encountered, where there is NO OTHER WAY DOWN...you do have to work your way back up.

And yes, if you need help, they guide will wrap his legs around you...it's the only way.

It is NOT easy.

 

I don't think we had a safety cable :eek:

 

I stand corrected. Perhaps I should have said that the NORMAL procedure is NOT to try to drag you back up the zip line. It's much, MUCH easier to pull you down. I didn't take into consideration the very, very small proportion of times that the zipline would be obstructed. Of course, common sense tells you that you would have to go back up if that were the case. But that is certainly not the NORMAL procedure. No one said that anything was blocking the cable when this poor lady died, so I still have to wonder why normal procedure was not followed.

 

As far as zip lining without a safety cable, no way I'd ever do it. Glad it worked out for you.

[Lib0007]

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:

 

 

 

 

I would have no idea . . . I've never been before. 250 for a man sounds like a low limit - excuse my ignorance.

[sillylizzie]

Wow.

My heart goes out to her family...

[Aprille]

I don't know why Carnival would cancel the excursion unless Gumbalimba is physically unable to offer it because of the accident (doubtful).

Doubtful?! Are you serious?! :confused:

 

Information gathered from posts on this thread indicate that a cable BROKE on one of the segments of this course. I would certainly hope that would close it down while, at the very least, an investigation is performed. Not to mention repairs if it is allowed to continue operation at all.

[tidecruiser]

My family was on the Spirit and were zooming down the Jungle Canopy Zip Line on the day the tragic event happened. Until this thread I didn't even know of a safety line. The Jungle Canopy only had the one line. Now, I don't think it was ever 65 feet off the ground, we were pretty close to the ground on most zips.

I had heard a rumor on the ship, but assumed this was one of those ship rumors that gets started and isn't true. I am keeping the family in my prayers!!

The Zipline and Victor's monkeys were the highlight for my family.

[motiger]

My family was also on the Spirit and heard of the incident as soon as we finished zip lining. Our guide from Victor's told us someone had fallen off the zip line on the other side of the island. We were praying for her recovering.

 

We also heard of another incident happening in Roatan involving a 14 year girl from our ship. I am hoping this second incident was just a rumor as I have not seen any posts or newspaper articles about it. Did anyone else hear about the incident or know whether it is a rumor? I hope it was a rumor because Roatan was my favorite port, but I will find it hard to go back if the incident is true.

Thanks

[BeachBumMama]

We also heard of another incident happening in Roatan involving a 14 year girl from our ship. I am hoping this second incident was just a rumor as I have not seen any posts or newspaper articles about it. Did anyone else hear about the incident or know whether it is a rumor?

This was posted on the NCL board earlier, but it apparantly happened on the Dawn. Could you be thinking of this?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=742762

[anaslile]

Doubtful?! Are you serious?! :confused:

 

Information gathered from posts on this thread indicate that a cable BROKE on one of the segments of this course. I would certainly hope that would close it down while, at the very least, an investigation is performed. Not to mention repairs if it is allowed to continue operation at all.

 

You're right, it will need to be closed for a while. My apologies, for not stating that in my original post. But, I don't think long term that it will be closed. As soon as things are fixed and the company can prove that ship passengers will be safe while zipping, it will open again. Cables don't take that long to replace. And there are reports earlier in the thread (or other threads) of people who zipped the same course the following day and did not know anything.

 

I am going to bow out of this thread now, it is an unfortunate event. I can't deny that, and I think the focus should be on the poor woman who died. I was just responding to a question posted by someone who's not zipping for another 2 1/2 weeks. I did not mean to upset.

[Seago2]

We were ziplining in Costa Rica two weeks ago. We had two lines hooked up to the main carabine- in case one broke. The carabine was hooked to our harness, which they checked three times to make sure was snug enough. Then we had a third line, completely separate from the first two, that was hooked to another carabine, just in case the first two broke. It seemed fool proof.

 

Unfortunately, during the last "zip" the third line simply wasn't there. I asked the guy who was hooking me up where it was and he said they were having problems with it.... oh well! Damn the torpedoes. It was the last line and I could see the end- and besides, what was I going to do?

 

It SEEMS very safe, and even if you fell you would probably just land in a bunch of trees. The thing that seems sketchy to me is that the stands themselves are a bit rickety. Plus, you could always just topple off the stands as you were climbing from the un-hook point to the re-hook point.

 

All in all, it was a GREAT excursion and I would do it again in a heartbeat- and I would send my kids off on it as well.

 

Our zipline was at this awesome eco-resort... http://www.almondsandcorals.com/index.html

 

Almonds and Corals resort. They are really into "sustainable tourism" and eco friendly things... very, very beautiful and interesting. When we got to the end of the zipline we were literally at the most gorgeous beach.

 

This was a ship excursion from the MSC Lirica, FYI.

[motiger]

This was posted on the NCL board earlier, but it apparantly happened on the Dawn. Could you be thinking of this?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=742762

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.

[ChBoxers800]

The thing that seems sketchy to me is that the stands themselves are a bit rickety. Plus, you could always just topple off the stands as you were climbing from the un-hook point to the re-hook point.

 

.

 

At the zipline in Gumbalimba (where the lady fell), the first thing they would do when you reached a platform was help to disconnect you from the main zip line(leaving your safety attached to the 2nd line). Once you were on the platform and stable, they would disconnect the safety line and clip it immmediately onto the railing on the platform. You'd walk across the platform to the next zipline where they would connect you to the main line, leaving your safety hooked to the railing. Once you were hooked to the main line, they'd transfer the safety line from the railing to the safety cable. So you were hardly ever not attached to something to prevent falling during the entire ride, even while on the platform.

 

They were so very, very careful which is why this is such a tragedy for all involved.

[OZjones12]

I was on the pirate of the caribbiean the day after this happened. I didn't find out till the day after but I thought they were very safe but they did not have a second safety line and we were 400 feet off the ground!!!!

 

I did have a great time but I think that will be my last zip line experence...

 

My thoughts go out to that family.... God Bless...