Tourist drowns at beach

Gareth Davis Sr, STAR Writer

A British national who was vacationing in Jamaica drowned at Frenchman’s Cove beach in Portland about noon on Tuesday, while swimming.

He is 47-year-old Paul Martin Browkman. Police sources say that Browkman, who was on a trip from St Ann, allegedly went swimming with his wife, shortly after arriving, despite being warned by a life guard on duty not to go into the sea as the choppy waters and rough seas might be too dangerous for them to handle.

According to the police, the life guard’s warning was brushed aside, as Browkman told him (the life guard) that he had swam in rougher water many times before while in England.

Drowning

Shortly after, however, the two (wife and husband) got into difficulties and the life guard went to their assistance. He managed to pull the wife ashore, before returning for the husband.

But upon his return, the husband remained motionless and despite administering CPR, there was no change in his condition.

The two were then rushed to the Port Antonio Hospital some eight miles away, but the male tourist was pronounced dead upon arrival. The wife was treated and released.

Since the drowning incident, the police have issued a stern warning to locals and tourists to be extra careful while swimming at Frenchman’s Cove beach, as not only is the water rough and dangerous, but the ocean floor is uneven. Consequently, persons can be walking in the water and suddenly step off into a deep area.

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Tourist drowns at beach

Missing US tourist found dead at Jamaica resort

US tourist found dead at Jamaica resort (file photo)

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Thursday July 17, 2014, CMC - For the second time in less than a week a tourist has died while visiting the island.

On Wednesday the decomposing body of Roger Nauto, 44, who was visiting the island from the United States, was found at a resort in Rose Hall in the western parish of St James.

Nauto arrived in the island with his wife on Sunday and shortly after checking into the hotel he was reported missing.

Checks revealed that he did not leave the property.

Early Wednesday, an employee at the resort went to investigate a foul odour coming from a section of the property and found Nauto’s body. It’s not known how he died.

He is the second tourist to have died in St James within a week.

On Saturday a British visitor who was staying at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort, died after being hit by a car while crossing the road.

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Missing US tourist found dead at Jamaica resort

St Lucia police say British tourist died from asphyxia

CASTRIES, St Lucia (AP) — An autopsy found that a British man attacked aboard his yacht anchored in St Lucia died from asphyxia as a result of being beaten, police said Tuesday.

Authorities said five suspects were in custody and would be charged at a later date. They did not specify when.

The killing of 62-year-old Roger Pratt late Friday surprised many people and raised questions about safety on this island in the eastern Caribbean. His wife, Margaret Pratt, also was beaten and was treated at a hospital for cuts and bruises.

Police said Pratt found her husband’s body floating in the water minutes after the attackers fled. She said her husband was not shot, contrary to some media reports.

“There were no knives, no guns, although of course, considerable violence in the attack,” Pratt said in a brief interview distributed by the government information service. “We’ve not felt unsafe in St Lucia until the events of those final tragic minutes, and have had considerable kindness from very many people.”

Police Commissioner Vernon Francois said the Pratts apparently heard noises outside the yacht and were attacked when they went to investigate. He said the attackers demanded money and other items and had used a stolen small boat to get to the yacht.

The Warwickshire couple had been travelling aboard their yacht, the Magnetic Attraction, since June to celebrate her 60th birthday. The attack occurred while the yacht was anchored off the southern town of Vieux Fort.

Pratt said the couple had been in St Lucia for nearly three weeks and were preparing to leave for Bequia, an island that is part of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Chester Nathoniel, part-owner of Action Adventure Divers, said in a phone interview Tuesday with The Associated Press that he met the couple on January 14 and took them diving twice.

“They were quite lovely people,” he said. “It is really, really sad news. …We’ve had some incidents in the past. It’s not something that happens regularly, but it shouldn’t happen in the first place.”

“I remember telling my wife about the two of them,” he added. “I told her, ‘I wish we could be like that when we grow up.’ They were happy together.”

The St Lucia Tourist Board issued a statement Tuesday saying the prime minister and other high-ranking officials had met with the victim’s wife.

“As a country, we collectively condemn this random and heinous act of violence,” the board said.

St Lucia, an island of about 163,000 people, has seen an increase in violent crimes that authorities blame on drug trafficking. However, police reported 34 killings last year, the lowest in four years.

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St Lucia police say British tourist died from asphyxia

Tourist arrivals down for first half of 2013

TOURISM arrivals — a key indicator of economic performance — dipped for the first half of 2013 by 4.2 per cent below year-earlier levels.

The decline, which is among the largest in five years, is related mainly to the normalisation of cruise arrivals following record growth in recent years.“We are coming from two years of record growth, so you are now seeing the stabilisation of that activity,” said William Tatham, vice-president of cruise shipping at Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ), in an overseas phone interview on Monday.Jamaica’s cruise sector since 2011 became the fastest growth market in the Caribbean due to the island’s newest port, Falmouth Cruise Pier.But January to June 2013 recorded dips in both arrivals by air, at 1.2 per cent, and sea, 8.5 per cent, compared with year-earlier levels, according to latest data published from the Jamaica Tourist Board. Put another way, total arrivals fell by 78,000, or by 4.2 per cent, from 1.85 million 1.77 million people visiting Jamaica.Official data also showed that the average length of stay for foreign nationals fell from 8.3 nights across all types of accommodations to 8.2. But if overall spending was constant, earnings from the sector, which is the second largest foreign exchange earner after remittances, likely fell in the first six months of this year.Tatham said that there was a slight summer fall-off as some ships opted for activities in the Mediterranean in Europe.“There is nothing really dramatic that has happened to the sector. We had a soft summer,” he said.Expect winter and next summer to rebound with the introduction of new cruise ship companies’ entry into Jamaica, including Disney Cruises and MSC Cruise, he said.Additionally, the Government and its agencies plan to upgrade Ocho Rios pier, formerly the nation’s busiest prior to the multimillion development of Falmouth Cruise Pier.The decline in stayover tourist arrivals largely reflected a reduction in visitors from Canada, the island’s second largest source market. Visitor arrivals by air from USA and Europe actually increased over the period.Concurrently, there is a rise in new markets, including France and Eastern Europe. French tourists are now among the largest group from continental Europe, and are almost equal to the number of Germans who visit the island.In contrast, just four years ago, France, as a source market for Jamaican tourism, was ranked seventh from Europe and 11th globally.Last month, Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) President Evelyn Smith told the Observer that increased airlift hiked arrivals from those new markets. Conversely, she indicated that reduced airlift from Canada contributed to that market’s decline.Arrivals from the United Kingdom (not part of continental Europe) continue to lead total European arrivals at some 70,700, but they were down 0.7 per cent year-on-year. Another non-traditional source market, Russia, continues to rise fast and now halves French arrivals.Jamaica earned US$2 billion from tourism arrivals in 2012, roughly a two per cent increase year-on-year, according to the Annual Travel Statistics published by the Jamaica Tourist Board.Visitor arrivals by air and sea hit a record 3.3 million in 2012, up 7.4 per cent year-over-year, according to the data. Most of the growth, however, came from an increase in cruise passenger arrivals, up 17 per cent.BO

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Tourist arrivals down for first half of 2013

"Yuh cyaan have tourist driving on this"

News

Monday, August 12, 2013

WATER flowing across the main road in Farm, Whitehouse gives the impression that an errant spring is to blame. But the source, according to residents, is a blocked culvert which should be channelling water from a nearby pumphouse under the road. Instead, the water flows on the surface, slowing eating away at the asphalt and making life miserable for motorists.Here, traffic slows to a crawl in order to navigate the gaping holes sloshing with water.Fine Forrest, who operates a bar just in front of the bad patch, told the Jamaica Observer that it has been many months since things have been that way. What makes it even worse, as far as she is concerned, is that the bad spot is just down the road from Sandals Whitehouse European Village and Spa.“When we (Jamaicans) will overlook some tings, yuh cyaan have tourist driving on this. Yuh know how much time mi see dem tek out camera and ah tek picture of it?! It look bad pon wi,” she said.“It stay bad man,” added Earl Foster.A sales rep with Caribbean Bottlers Limited who uses that route regularly, Foster said the road conditions are deteriorating rapidly, so much so that several bus and taxi operators are already bypassing Farm and nearby Whitehouse by using the road from Robin River to Bluefields instead.For residents of Farm, this means there are fewer public passenger vehicles that use their route. It could soon mean increased fares, too.(PHOTO: LIONEL ROOKWOOD)

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"Yuh cyaan have tourist driving on this"