WOW! Absolutely devestating! I, at age 28 yrs., can empathize with Abigail and her family. Too sad for words......

Thanks for all of the news reports and up to date information.

Advanced Diving owner blames customers for Belize accident
Powered by CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network
by LUTHER MONROE - CDNN Safety News Editor

Med student Abby Brinkman died on a scuba diving trip with Advanced Diving of Placencia Belize.

PLACENCIA, Belize (30 Oct 2005) -- A dive center owner in Belize has blamed customers for a dive trip accident in which an American tourist died and scuba divers were critically injured.

Advanced Diving owner Vance Cabral told reporters that the four divers who drifted at sea for three days ignored divemaster Henry "Bee Bee" Tucker who urged them to remain with the "Advanced One" dive boat after it lost power.

Cabral also says the boat was anchored despite reports that the vessel was drifting out to sea after its engine failed.

Despite small craft warnings, "Advanced One" left Placencia Silk Caye on Saturday, October 22 with a group of 10 divers and snorkelers.

The single engine vessel had no working radio, emergency signaling equipment nor drinking water for a trip to a destination located some 20 miles offshore.

Cabral, who has retained an attorney, declined to comment on reports that both he and divemaster Tucker did not have valid tour guide licenses.

In late December last year, CDNN reported that the same dive boat capsized in rough seas near South Water Caye with 10 divers onboard.

12 November 2005
Belize operator banned over fatality

A Belizean dive centre owner and a dive guide have been banned for life from running dive operations in the country, following the death of a diver who tried to swim to shore after boat engine failure in rough weather.

Vance Cabral, owner of Advance Diving in Placencia, and dive guide Mark Tucker have been banned by Belize's Tour Operators Licensing Board.

American Abigail Brinkman, 28, died after being taken out with three others aboard the centre's boat Advanced One to a dive site, Gladden Spit, on Saturday 22 October. After the dive, the boat started to drift out to sea when it suffered engine failure.

Against Tucker's advice to stay with the boat, the divers elected to attempt swimming to the nearest land, the island South Silk Caye, some 3.5 miles away. The boat moved helplessly away, leaving Tucker to endure 20 hours without water before being able to swim to another island as the boat drifted close to it.

Cabral, who had been dropped off with some snorkellers at South Silk Caye, could see Advanced One drifting away without power. He swam four miles to an island with rangers able to call search and rescue services.

By nightfall neither the divers nor the dive boat had been located. Air and sea searches by the Belize Defence Force continued throughout Sunday, without success.

On Monday afternoon, Abigail Brinkman - reportedly the only diver not to have been wearing a full wetsuit - was found dead, floating at the surface.

The three other divers were located at around the same time, close together. Transferred to hospital in Belize City, a 50-year-old man was treated for hypothermia. Two women, of 34 and 38 years old, were reported to be in fair condition.

The survivors reported that the dive boat's radio had been inoperable, meaning that Tucker could not call for assistance. The Tour Operators Licensing Board established that Cabral and Tucker did not possess current operating licenses.

=============================================
investigation, Part 1
WTHR-TV

Kevin Rader/Eyewitness News

Belize, October, 2005 - They say there is no such thing as a bad sunrise because it brings the promise of a new day. A sunrise in Belize attracts thousands of tourists every year.

"We thought we found paradise," Roger Brinkman said as stood outside his Belize City hotel, "Just love the pace of life. Of course the diving is extraordinary."

Who could blame the Brinkman's. They went to Belize from Columbus to celebrate their daughter Abigail's 28th birthday three weeks earlier. What better place for a family that enjoys diving than the great Barrier Reef, the longest reef in the western hemisphere. It runs the entire length of this English speaking country, which is slightly smaller than the state of Massachusetts.

Abby was attracted to Belize for another reason. The third year Indiana University medical student and former Indianapolis 500 Festival Princess selected the Central American nation for her internship.

"She had an interest in pediatrics," Andrew Tanenbaum observed. "You could see the smiles on everyone faces," referring to a picture he took as the diving group he was a part of headed out toward Silk Caye on October 23.

"I remember the boat stopping twice on the way out there."

Fortunately the engine restarted both times. Once at the Caye six snorkelers, including Tanenbaum, disembark. Then Captain Vance Cabral cautioned the divers about a small craft warning just before the boat Advance One pushes off for Gladden Spit.

"It didn't seem alarming at all", he remembered reflecting on the weather that day. "It was choppy. There was a steady breeze but in no way did it seem dangerous."

Experienced tour guides like KG say that doesn't change the fact that the boat should have never left the dock that day. "The ocean is like a devil," he said "It just brings you in." And the devil wasn't done yet.

John Bain, a native of Indianapolis, was one of the four divers who remained on the boat after the snorkelers were dropped off. "We only got a few hundred yards from where we dropped off the snorkelers and the motor died again." But now the captain, who easily restarted the engine twice before, was back at Silk Caye with the snorkelers. Along with Tanenbaum "there wasn't anything we could do at that point. Vance had a cell phone, but it was not charged and there was no phone on the boat either."

The divers in the boat persuaded the dive master to cast the anchor. Fifty-year-old John Bain; a Carmel High, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis and IU Law School graduate; remembers what happened next. "The metal chain was so rusted it just snapped. So the anchor was gone. At that point we really were adrift."

Another diver in the boat; Nancy Masters from Portland, Oregon; remembers Bain asking if the radio worked. It did not.

From Silk Caye the snorkelers watched as the boat then disappeared from view and they began to question the captain. "Someone had asked about a radio," Tanenbaum said. "Even he knew at that point that the radio did not work. Even he made the comment there is no flare on the boat either."

That is when Masters remembers the dive master weighed in back on the boat, telling the four divers, "There is nothing but water between where we are at and Jamaica and that is where we are headed."

After hearing that the four divers talked among themselves they made a decision that will be debated for years to come. They decided to jump out of the boat and into the Caribbean Sea in an attempt to swim for Silk Caye. Later reports in local Palencia papers said the dive master tried to talk the four divers out of jumping, but Abby Brinkman's father disputes that. "To a survivor that is not what happened. That never occurred."

Upon reflection, Bain said none of the divers realized how strong the current was.

Once in the water, Masters remembered it this way, "John is in the water. Abby is in the water and I immediately said to John, 'This is much worse than it looked from the boat.' John suggested we get back in the boat, but we couldn't get back in the boat because we didn't know where Abby was."

The four have now jumped into a world they cannot control 20 miles from shore in stormy seas where all they have is one another.

© 2005 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9975553/

There was another incident last week very similar to this one with three persons out on a fishing excursion from Long Caye, in Lighthouse Reef Atoll. They ran out of gas (the folks thought they had a full tank) and they stayed adrift at sea for two days. They did remain in the boat and they were rescued.

NO RADIO? NO BACK UP PLAN. I'M SURE THE TOUR OPERATORS WILL BE BANNED FOR LIFE-WAIT I'M WRONG THE TOURIST ACTUALLY LISTENED AND SURVIVED

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Abby may have jumped but so did everyone else! Including the divemaster who "advised against jumping". He spent 8 hours himself in the water.

Sorry about the loss of Abby, she was so young, and the whole thing was inexcusable.

I hope alot more gets done to all involved than banning them for life.

Thank you for your message. This is so aweful. There are so many of us so sad about this up here in Indiana. Abby was so beautiful, selfless, and just a wonderful person to be around. She will be greatly missed. Her family, friends, and peers will miss her forever. It was a blessing to know her. Her smile, loyalty, and humor were just a couple of countless wonderful qualities of hers. She dedicated herself to doing things for others.

Abigail "Abby" Drake Brinkman, 28, of Columbus, a former Madison resident, died Monday, Oct. 24, 2005, while on a scuba diving trip near Placencia, Belize, in Central America.

She was born Oct. 7, 1977, in Madison, the daughter of Roger and Janet Brinkman. She moved to Columbus with her parents in 1988. She was a fourth-year student at the Indiana University School of Medicine, and had planned to pursue a residency in pediatrics upon graduation in May 2006.

She was a cum laude graduate of Hanover College, where she was selected a Horner Scholar. At the time of her death she was on her second trip to Belize, where she was providing primary care to the underserved population of southern Belize. She played the violin, piano and flute; ran the Indianapolis Mini Marathon many times and was a fan of the Indianapolis Colts, Indianapolis Pacers and the Chicago Cubs.

Surviving are her parents, of Columbus; one brother, Jacob Brinkman; and several aunts, uncles and cousins.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents, Louis and Hazel Brinkman, and John and Thelma Favinger; and one uncle.

A memorial service was held at 2 p.m. Tuesday Nov. 1 at the First Presbyterian Church in Columbus.


Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to the First Presbyterian Church Foundation in Columbus, the music programs at Columbus East High School or the Abigail Brinkman Scholarship at Hanover College.

MY CONDOLENCES TO ABBY'S FAMILY,FRIENDS AND PEERS. I HOPE TAHT SHE WILL REST IN PEACE AND THAT THEY WILL FIND A WAY TO CARRY HER SPIRIT FORWARD. MY INTENT IN THIS ENTIRE MATTER HAS NEVER BEEN TO DISCREDIT THE TRAGEDY BUT RATHER TO ASK IF LEAVING THE VESSEL COMPOUNDED THE PROBLEMS? YES THE TOUR OPERATOR(WITHOUT A LICENSE)LEFT THE BOAT TO SWIM FOR LAND IT WAS WELL AFTER THE DIVERS DECIDED THEY HAD A BETTER CHANCE TRYING ON THEIR OWN. I AM A FRIEND OF VANCE AND FEEL THAT HE HAS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE . IF THE COURTS MAKE IT WORSE THAN "BANNING FOR LIFE" AS DBD SUGGEST THEN MAYBE I HAVE MISSED SOMETHING.I KMOW ONE OF THE DIVERS IS A LAWYER AND WONDER WHERE HE WILL FIND SATISFACTION. THIS IS NOT THE LAST TRAGEDY THAT WILL OCCUR IN BELIZE AND I PROMISE ALL THAT READ I WILL BE LOOKING FOR THE SAME TYPE PUNISHMENT TO BE INFLICTED ON ANYTHING THAT RESEMBLES THIS. GOD BLESS ABBY AND VANCE. I'M VERY AFRAID THAT I WILL MISS BOTH OF YOU MORE THAN THIS POST WILL GIVE

OUT OF THE BOX DG