Nebraska man disappears during snorkelling trip

Just a couple weeks ago, four divers disappeared in the waters off Placencia when their boat experienced engine trouble and they tried to swim for a caye. American Abigail Brinkman died sometime during that three day ordeal. Tonight another American is missing. This time, it is a cruise ship visitor who was part of a group that went snorkelling in northern waters. News Five spoke with John Dresp’s brother and sister-in-law who were also in the water at the time of the incident and they say they are not leaving Belize until someone finds their loved one. Jacqueline Woods reports.

Donald Dresp, Brother of Missing Man
?I would just want to tell the listening audience that this is a living hell and you just don?t know that it?s like to go through a day like yesterday and today and it?s so sad because he was such a great man.?

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
There are no words to express the grief that both Donald and Winifred Dresp are experiencing following the disappearance of their loved one, sixty-eight year old John Dresp, who remains missing at sea, following a snorkelling tour at Shark Ray Alley just off Caye Caulker.

?Belize Pride,? the property of Discovery Divers Limited, arrived at the marine park around eleven on Wednesday morning. According to Discovery Divers Limited, there were eight crew members on board the vessel, all licensed and experienced tour guides, a dive instructor from the cruise line Norwegian Dream, and fifty eight guests. In a press release, Discovery Divers Limited states that the passengers received safety briefings, gear checks, and that the guests entered the water which ranged in depth from four to six feet and that at the time the sea condition was ideal. In addition, there were four other vessels in the immediate area conducting similar activity.

However, Donald Dresp strongly disagrees with that description by Discovery. He says not only was the water deep, conditions were far from ideal.

Donald Dresp
?We had about ten minutes of instruction by a girl by the name of Heidi and then they took us to the end of the boat. She had explained what to do with the life vest and with the fins and with the goggles and so forth. And we got to the end of the ship to go into the water, my wife and I and my bother, we were probably the seniors of the group?that doesn?t mean that we?re that old?and then we got there and there was no one there at all to get vests of goggles or fins or how well you handled yourself, and I went in thinking it was only about six feet deep. That was a bunch of, that was garbage, it was not four to six feet deep! It was so deep that I panicked.?

?I did panic and the current took me way, way down the line and my wife saw me?she?s great at it?saw me and yelled for help and a wonderful girl by the name of Lydia came and got me and then another man came and they pulled me in, because I was just drifting away in the current. At that time, my wife, who is good at this, took her sight off my brother and he vanished. And it couldn?t have been more than twenty feet from the ship. He just totally vanished. Now the current was terrible and what I want to know is, yesterday was Wednesday and I want to know how many excursions went out and how many were cancelled because of the bad currents. And on the ship we were in there were two excursions, one of them they pulled after the people were in the water ten minutes and they got back on. I, my ship with my brother didn?t do it. We were there for sixty minutes and my brother died. I am sure he is dead.?

The couple say they do not know what happened to John Dresp, but they believe he may have been overcome by the strong current.

Winifred Dresp
?I am not sure what happened, he may have been kind of tipped over by the passing ray or the current or something and maybe inhaled water and panicked and he forgot to pull his rip cord?

Winifred Dresp says she was the last one to see her brother in law alive, but had turned her attention to help her husband after he was swept away by the current. The Dresps say they strongly believe the incident could have been prevented if proper precautions had been taken by both Discovery Divers Limited and the Norwegian Dream.

Donald Dresp
?We are not leaving here until we have him dead or alive. We are from Las Cruces, New Mexico, my brother lives in Omaha. I have already cancelled our reservations for Saturday to fly back to Las Cruces or El Paso. As soon as they discover him and they do the autopsy, we will be able to take his body back to Omaha for the funeral?

Winifred Dresp
?Someone should have been counting all heads at al times and they lost a head.?

Donald Dresp
?It?s a major responsibility…and it?s a living hell. The worst nightmare is calling my four nieces and my grandchildren, and my two children to tell them that, because I talked him into it, so I feel like garbage. And my wife feels terribly…?

Winifred Dresp
?I was the experienced one there, but they should have had an instructor there also because I turned to help one person and the other person was gone. I think he probably went down and I blame myself for not checking to see if his vest was inflated all the way and all this, but that?s what the staff should be doing.?

Donald Dresp
?And I?m blaming me because I talked him into this cruise.?

Winifred Dresp
?His was inflated. I don?t inflate mine because I dive deep.?

Donald Dresp
?But no one check us, no one.?

The family says John Dresp was healthy for his age and had no medical problems.

Donald Dresp
?I want them to solve it. Well number one is find him, and then two, make sure that this never happens again on any other tourist ship. I mean any cruise ship.?

Winifred Dresp
?Anyone who has people they don?t know in the water should be counting them every moment.?

Dresp says there was another catamaran at the site but the crew and passengers only stayed for ten minutes. He suspects it was due to the poor conditions. Dresp says he does not know why their vessel decided to remain in the area for close to one hour. Since the incident, an intense search continues by all relevant agencies. Reporting for News Five, Jacqueline Woods.

So far the search for John Dresp has been unsuccessful. It resumes tomorrow morning.