By: Staff Writer
November 17, 2023
A popular Bahamas excursion boat sunk off of the coast of the capital island of New Providence in The Bahamas, leaving a 75 year old Colorado woman dead.
The vessel, headed for the world renown Blue Lagoon Island, left a dock off of Bay Street on Tuesday morning at 9:30am with more than 100 people on board.
An hour into the ride, the boat experienced choppy seas and began to take on water and never made it to the Blue Lagoon Island.
Chief Superintendant of Police Chryslyn Skippings, told the media: “It is reported that a half hour into the ride, the vessel experienced rough seas in the area, which resulted in the boat taking on water and becoming submerged in waters just outside of Blue Lagoon.”
Observers told Caribbean Magazine Plus that while sometimes things happen, it is too early to say if whether or not it was negligence.
A statement from Blue Lagoon said the passengers were all cruise ship passengers. It also said the incident occurred as the vessel was approaching Blue Lagoon Island.
“Emergency teams from the island quickly arrived to render assistance,” Blue Lagoon said.
“Passengers and five staff members were located and brought to the island, and two passengers were taken to the hospital for additional care.”
Blue Lagoon did not mention the passenger who died. Though police said the woman died “as a result of the incident”, the exact cause of her death was not known.
Kelly Schissel, who identified herself as one of the passengers who had been on the ferry, said in a Facebook post, “One person did pass away after the incident, but she did make it to land before it happened.”
She said the passengers had all jumped off the boat and had to try to get on nearby boats.
U.S. Embassy Nassau Public Affairs Officer Suemayah Abu-Douleh visited the scene to provide support services to American citizens involved in the incident and their families.
“We are working with [the RBPF and Blue Lagoon] to get further details on the incident, but we wanted to make sure our American citizen services were available for all American citizens who need any support or need any services,” Abu-Douleh said.
“We will be continuing to work with the RBPF to learn more details about what happened.”
Skippings said the woman was on a five-day family vacation.
“This would have been their second stop,” she said.