Tourist death leads to dive shop suspension
Acting Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Marcial Ycong is set to order the temporary closure of NTJ Water Sports Cebu based in Punta Engaño, Mactan, after the company figured in a parasailing accident which killed a tourist on Tuesday.
City Hall said the order will be implemented within the week although the company has, by itself, already halted operations since the incident.
According to the Lapu-Lapu City police, efforts are now underway to settle the death of the Korean national who drowned from the parasailing accident.
Case officer-in-charge, PO3 Joseph Ruel Cutanda, said that NTJ Water Sports Cebu, which provided the parasailing equipment, has been negotiating with the family of Seong Soo Kim.
The 64-year-old South Korean fell into the seas after the parasailing cable which held him and his wife, Jam Sik Lim, 60, suddenly snapped purportedly due to strong winds.
The couple allegedly insisted on doing the water sports activity despite a gale warning issued by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), the country’s weather bureau.
Kim was declared dead on arrival at the UC Med Hospital in Mandaue City where the couple was rushed; while his wife, Lim, who was in critical condition when she was brought in has shown signs of recovery and is expected to be released within the week.
Lapu-Lapu police said that NTJ Water Sports owner Feliciano Lumaban offered to settle the case and expressed willingness to shoulder all the expenses of the damages incurred.
“It they are able to reach a settlement, it is possible that we will not be filing a case against the service provider,” said PO3 Cutanda in Cebuano. The water sports company is based in Barangay Punta Engaño.
Cutanda added that the surviving victim and her family must, however, execute an affidavit of desistance to put the settlement on record and official.
Police have yet to receive word from the victims’ family.
Kim’s remains now lie at the Cebu Rolling Hills funeral parlor in Mandaue City awaiting transport back to South Korea.
The couple was accompanied by two relatives while vacationing in Cebu.
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