TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Cruise ship passenger rescued from Taxi

Wow, how does that happen? I hope they are OK

From St Maarten news.
"CRUISE SHIP PASSENGERS RESCUED FROM WATER AFTER THEIR TAXI PLUNGES INTO SEA. Cruise ship passengers enjoying a Caribbean vacation had to be rescued from the sea on Saturday after a vehicle ended up in the water following a failed maneuver.

Edited by Carol Hill to remove most of post.

Scubaman--You posted the link. You can't copy and paste copyrighted material in toto.

Here is a Daily Herald story, which doesn't have many other details.
Link

I was shocked to read that there were 12 passengers on the bus from the cruise ship and along with the driver that means there were 13 people on board when it went into the water and turned upside down. It’s very lucky there were no fatalities. Congrats to the locals and young people that assisted in the rescues and helping the victims.

If anyone has ever taken a shore excursion on a Caribbean Island -- not just St. Maarten -- it's remarkable more accidents don't happen. One time on the U.S. Virgin Islands my wife and I took a shore excursion from the port in Charlotte Amalie to Coki Point Beach. I was never so nervous in my life. The open bus climbed narrow steep hills with blind curves, all while driving on the wrong side of the road with a left-hand drive minibus. No guard rails, nothing. I happened to peer over and it was straight down if he failed to navigate the road in front of him. After that, we either rent a car or take taxi's for just the two of us and have had no close calls since (other that car sickness when the driver speeds up only to brake hard for the next speed bump!). Hopefully everyone is okay from this particular incident.

Here is a fox news report.

"FOXNEWS
12 cruise passengers rescued after van overturns in ocean during shore excursion. A group of cruise passengers on an off-boat excursion in St. Marteen narrowly avoided the unthinkable after their van accidentally ended up upside-down in the ocean on Saturday.
“One guest sustained non-life-threatening injuries. The remaining guests returned to the ship.”

EDITED by Carol Hill--Scubaman--what don't you understand about NOT posting the whole of a copyrighted story??? Please post a LINK.

Ok. But I did leave a part of it out. Links from me from now on but these were from open Facebook pages.

Fox News was a Facebook page???

It was a worded copy of an article posted on a open public St Maarten Facebook page. No copyright indications or restrictions from copy and posting to another place.

Uhmn, no, if the original source was a Fox News story, then it is copyrighted, period.

Not sure what social media sites they are referring to, but on none of them did I see a suggestion that the children did anything other than help. Sad they feel accused of stealing.

If I was one of the people in the mini-van and managed to get out, I would surely want to retrieve my purse or whatever bag I may have had with me. Perhaps the kids were doing that. May have had passports, etc in them that they would need.

Gee, fake news really does exist, even in SXM.

Why do you believe I posted fake news since you directed this to me?

For what it is worth, I spoke to a local SXM friend who happens to be a long time and 2nd generation licensed taxi driver with a full sized GMC/Chevy van.

His understanding (he was not working at the time but since he knows other taxi drivers, I am sure he got close to accurate information) is as follows:

A SXM taxi driver had prearranged tours for MANY people on this ship as I guess there was a large contingent he had connected with. The SXM taxi driver then enlisted some fellow licensed taxi drivers and also at least one UNLICENSED driver to get this large group around. The group was enjoying their tour while in multiple taxi vans and were also partaking in the party atmosphere while touring. It is his understanding the very large group (multiple vans) had stopped in Marigot for more refreshments when the young and unlicensed taxi driver of the van in question backed up so his group could converse with another group. At this point he neglected to put the van in park and when the tour was ready to move on, he accelerated while still in reverse and went into Marigot harbor. I was also told many of the vans were filled beyond capacity (by a few people) as the large group wanted to stay together and they could not secure enough vans.

While it appears to have been a licensed taxi van, the young driver may not have been licensed, was inexperienced and according to my friend, had no business behind the wheel.

I would say that would be a nice class action if in the States. Wonder if it was a ship excursion or a private arrangement. If it was a ship excursion it could prove to be trouble for that cruise line.

Thanks for the info. At least it wasn't a tragedy, which it could have been.

Pretty sure it was a private arrangement and I thought one of the posted articles indicated as such.

It was in the Fox news article.



Fox News Article

Thanks for that clarification.

My bad Scuba, post was directed to Carol Hills post on the link to the Daily Herald where the taxi drivers were calling the report false news. Read the article.

Ok. I read the article too.

What they were calling false was that apparently some social media websites were saying that the driver was drunk, which we was not, as he was tested. And that the kids who helped were trying to steal things. Not sure where those reports were. Apparently the driver was incompetent though, which I thought at the time no competent driver would have done that, without some mechanical failure. Just very glad that the outcome wasn't worse than it was.

According to my "source" some reports had the accident happening at the cruise port in Philipsburg, along with the driver being drunk which was also not the case. Incompetence did seem to be a big part of the problem.

This is the problem when people report unsubstantiated information and spread it like wildfire on social media.

.

It doesn't seem to be worth very much since much of the information is poor supposition or just plain wrong. Your friend was not in attendance and a number of things he has relayed to you are totally wrong or just guessing. The "bus" was not in reverse but in forward(just look at the published photos or real reporting) and went over the rocks and entered the water front first. If the bus had entered the water rear first than there would have been a greater likelihood of more serious injury or death.

In one line you state "the young and unlicensed taxi driver of the van in question" but than you follow that up later with "the young driver may not have been licensed". Which is it or don't you know? You state it both ways. I have not found a single published report on the accident that has anyone listed as an involved driver as being "UNLICENSED".


“It was an accident that could have happened to anyone at any time,” said a taxi driver who was at the scene. (The Daily Herald as reported on 25 June 2019)

Accidents in life truly do happen and sometimes "incompetence" has nothing to do with it. It hasn't been determined yet if there was anything wrong with the bus or if it was human error or a combination of both.



.

You are doing here, exactly what you are railing against with your last statement. You are reporting unsubstantiated and truly incorrect information on this board. (social media) Let us do better.



* I apologize in advance for any poor grammar.

"truly incorrect information"?? Based on what? Since I also know JD's source personally, I would put quite a bit of stock into what he has said.
And the updated Daily Herald report from today seems to corroborate that version.

Daily Herald story

Thank you.

Not sure who peed in bdeeley's cereal but I made the effort to talk to someone I trust and who is in the profession and posted it here for all to see. Initially I was just going to share it privately with you and Eric but decided otherwise. Now, what the Daily Herald published pretty much substantiates exactly what I was told.

I will take a trusted local source over social media speculation anytime and that is why I posted it.

We were in Marigot at the marina when this happened and arrived on the scene shortly after the van went in the water. There were a lot of sirens and a large crowd had gathered. It definitely went in nose first and there was at least one injury. One person was on the ground with what looked like an IV and we heard another had a broken arm (but didn’t see that person so not sure about that). When we were taking a taxi later to Maho beach our driver told us that the driver of the van got out but left it in gear and it accelerated and went over the bank. It must have been traveling at a decent rate of speed as it had to jump the curb and make it over some sizable boulders to get to the water. He also told us it was the local kids swimming in the water that rescued at least one person and most likely saved his life.

The young men were honored yesterday by the Collectivite'. Daily Herald link

I had to laugh, looking at a couple of the young men's faces though. They are like "enough, already!!"

"definitely went in nose first "
That is what the picture in the Herald shows too.