Bz. City fisherman drown near Swallow Caye
A Belize City family is in mourning tonight after an accident just off the coast claimed the life of a young father. As News 5’s Jacqueline Woods explains, what should have been routine for the fisherman, suddenly turned deadly.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Twenty-seven year old Zenaida Castro had been looking forward to a life with her live in boyfriend twenty-three year old Nigel Hilton, but on Monday afternoon that dream came to a tragic end.
Zenaida Castro, Live in Girlfriend
?We both got up and I told him, I say babes please no go, pleases no go no where. He said we have to full two ice box, we have to full two ice box.?
Hilton, a fisherman for many years, left his home around nine on Monday morning to set crayfish pots in the vicinity of Swallow Caye. It is reported that Hilton had just dived off the boat and was in thirty feet of water when he started having problems. Hilton, who went on the trip with a younger brother and three other fishermen, managed to make it to the surface but not for long. Castro says the brother told her that they desperately tried to save him from drowning.
Zenaida Castro
?He said they went diving and he went to the bottom and he saw Nigel come up and he just blow two times and he just went back down and he said they jumped right away for him and he start foaming from his mouth. So they started to give him respiratory and he started bring up rice and stuff like that. His brother said he tried and he tried and he tried but he couldn?t help him, he couldn?t help him. He tried but he couldn?t help him?
Zenaida explains why she strongly believes it was an old gunshot wound that caused Hilton to get cramps which they believe he experienced while underwater.
Zenaida Castro
?He loved the water; he loved the sea; he loved fishing; fishing is his life. But couple years ago he got a gunshot in his foot and he always complaining about cramps sometimes of the weather and his brother said he also got cramps in the water too.?
Police say they do not suspect foul play. Reporting for News Five, Jacqueline Woods.
Nigel Hilton leaves behind two young children.
