2 Tourists Die in Separate Incidents

Patrick Leslie Jaccound

But while the tourists in the vehicular accident were slightly injured, that wasn’t the case for two other visitors to Belize. On Sunday, twenty-seven year old Australian tourist Patrick Leslie Jaccound died at the K.H.M.H. while receiving treatment for injuries he sustained on five days earlier. According to police, Jaccound was socializing with friends on the second floor of Dirty McNasty Hotel. He attempted to flip on to the rail of the building, but fell over backwards and his body hit the concrete of the first floor. The Australian national suffered severe head injuries and succumbed on Sunday. And this morning, another tourist, American national Jeffrey Bartle died while on a snorkeling tour at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Bartle, a Minnesota resident entered the country last Wednesday and booked the tour with some friends and family. News Five spoke today to Inspector Henry Jemott of the San Ignacio police

Insp. Henry Jemott, Deputy O.C., San Pedro Police

“At about ten-fifteen a.m., police received information of a body at the San Pedro Polyclinic, which was pronounced dead on arrival. Investigation into the matter revealed that one Jeffrey Bartle, age fifty-eight, date of birth the fifteenth of may 1957…an American national of Minnesota U.S.A. had booked a tour to Hol Chan Marine Reserve. About fifteen minutes into the tour, the tour guide noticed that Bartle was floating and unresponsive. He came to his aid, he then administered CPR and then he was rushed to San Pedro Polyclinic where he was pronounced dead on arrival.”

Henry Jemott

Duane Moody

“Sir any preliminaries as to whether it is believed that he drowned or that he had any preexisting condition before he went on the tour?”

Insp. Henry Jemott

“We would have to wait until the postmortem has concluded because we are still investigating to find out if he had any terminal sickness of any sort to assist in the investigation. But at this time, we would not like to speculate, but we would say that he was floating and taken to the hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. We have to wait until the postmortem to confirm such information.”