US cruise passenger drowns in Belize during snorkeling trip
Wednesday, 08 Jan, 2016
0
An American cruise passenger has died while snorkeling in Belize, the second such snorkeling death in the last month.
Belize Tourism Police are investigating the incident, with many tourism industry leaders concerned over the number of deaths that have occurred in the water involving elderly tourists.
The victim was named as 67 year old Janice Mittelstadt from South Dakota who had arrived earlier on a Princess Cruises ship.
She was found unresponsive in the water near Sargeant’s Caye.
"We have been seeing that for some time now we are having a few deaths occurring in the sea, especially with diving and snorkeling. But we have also seen that these persons who are dying are people who are advanced in age. So we have decided to have some kind of discussion to see how best we can curb this situation," said Gualberto Garcia, commanding officer of the Tourism Police.
Garcia said a post mortem would be carried out to see if Mittelstadt had an existing medical condition which may have been a contributing factor.
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Clearing CSS/JS assets' cache... Please wait until this notice disappears...
Updating... Please wait...
France prepares for a massive strike across all transports on September 18
Turkish tourism stalls due to soaring prices for accommodation and food
CCS Insight: eSIMs ready to take the travel world by storm
Germany new European Entry/Exit System limited to a single airport on October 12, 2025
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt