A visitor to Little Cayman died Sunday following a dive, becoming the fourth tourist and the fifth person to die in what local police term “water-related” incidents here in 2015.
According to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, 60-year-old Arthur Edward Grindle from Oakland, Florida, collapsed on a dive boat while headed back from a two-tank morning dive in Little Cayman.
“The deceased was returning from a dive trip after two dives,” RCIPS Superintendent Adrian Seales said. He was out of the water at the time he collapsed, Mr. Seales said.
Police are investigating the death.
Mr. Grindle had arrived in Little Cayman on Friday.
On Jan. 26, an elderly tourist died after getting into difficulty while swimming off East End. According to police, just after 3 p.m. that Monday officers received a report of a 71-year-old swimmer in distress while on a snorkel tour off Morritt’s Tortuga resort.
Police said other members of the snorkel tour tried to revive the man with CPR during their return to shore. The man was later pronounced dead at the Cayman Islands Hospital.
Two other fatal water-related incidents in January also involved visitors.
On Jan. 12, an 88-year-old cruise ship tourist died on the water’s edge at Seven Mile Beach just after 10 a.m. The Ukrainian national, who was traveling with his family on the Ruby Princess cruise ship, got into trouble while swimming off shore.
On Jan. 14, another tourist, age 63 from the U.S., died while snorkeling. According to police, that man was also snorkeling off Morritt’s resort. Just before 3:30 p.m., he indicated he had trouble breathing.
The other water-related death involved a Cuban migrant who drowned off South Sound on Jan. 3 after the boat he was on capsized. The other three people aboard the craft made it to the reef and were eventually found by a local surfer who reported their distress.
