Mystic River Resort saves tourists who overturned on river
The number of visitors to the jewel may be picking up but an incident in the Cayo district on Tuesday may possibly land a black eye to the tourism industry. A hotelier of San Ignacio Town was today charged with Operating as a tour guide without a proper license. The charge against forty-six year old Kenrick Cadle follows a canoe adventure on Tuesday that could have ended fatally for one female and two male tourists. The tourists reportedly rented a canoe from Cadle’s business to go on an adventure on the Macal River which was overflowing due to Tropical Depression Mathew. The three tourists, Brian Rousseau and Stephanie Lew of France and George Pembrew of Britain, overturned soon after taking off and were swept away by the swift currents. Tom Thomas, Manager of Mystic River Resort, which is located several miles from where the tourists started their river adventure, told News Five by phone today that his employees managed to rescue and help the tourists at around noon on Tuesday.
Tom Thomas, Mgr., Mystic River Resort (Via Phone)
“I received a radio call on the property that there were two people were in the river and my crews were going down to assist them and that they were very fatigued. We have an access from the river up; they were able to assist them up to our dining room area. I then met with them, we got them a towel and tried to calm them down a little and started to find out what had happened. They were quite shook, they were nervous and a bit fatigued. They told me they had been in the river over an hour and they had left from a place near Black Rock where I believe they entered the river and almost instantly upon getting in the river the canoe turned over and there was a third person with them, a third male. He said that he would swim for the canoe and they stayed and hung onto some trees. They eventually chose to go ahead and drift down the river and when they reached Mystic River Resort they had been in the water about an hour. They went to this guy, they got a canoe from him and then he took them to an area just below Black Rock and they were put into the river.”
Marion Ali
“The third person, was he also a tourist?”
Tom Thomas
“Yes he was. The one guy did float in to an area near an unexcavated Mayan temple. He got assistance from somebody there and was searching for the other two people.”
Thomas told us that the river was too dangerous and that the tourists should not have been allowed to go on that adventure because of the high water levels in the river and the strong undercurrents.
Tom Thomas
“I would not put a person that far up the river. I would be concerned with the height of the water and you also don’t know the condition as far as trees that have fallen and stuff. As you get further down the river actually gets wider. I would not think it was a good idea because these people were not experienced and that far up the river and expect them to come all the way back up the river to San Ignacio in the condition of the river.”
Marion Ali
“How many miles away from town did you rescue them?”
Tom Thomas
“If it’s river miles, I think it’s around fourteen river miles because it’s about seven from Mystic River to San Ignacio and we do that in about a two and a half to three-hour canoe trip.”
The floods are expected to last for a week before the river recedes to its normal height.
