A California couple has filed a $5m lawsuit against a tour company in Hawaii which it claims abandoned them in the middle of the ocean during a snorkeling tour.
In September 2021, Elizabeth Webster and her husband, Alexander Burckle, were on their honeymoon in Hawaii during which they booked a snorkeling excursion with the boat tour company Sail Maui.
According to court documents reviewed by NBC, the pair was part of a 44-passenger group that set sail from Lahaina Harbor at 10am for the tour and was scheduled to return to at around 3pm.
The documents said that the boat’s captain told everyone that the vessel would be anchored in the location for approximately an hour before sailing to the next location. The captain, however, did not inform the group about when exactly they should be back on the boat, the couple alleges in the lawsuit.
They also claim that they were not given instructions on how to get back on the boat, or what to do in case of an emergency.
In a statement to Insider, the couple’s attorney Jared A Washkowitz said that the tour company “didn’t give set boundaries for snorkeling” nor identify a lifeguard for the excursion or make sure that the snorkelers had a buddy system.
At one point, the waters became increasingly turbulent and the couple attempted to swim towards the boat. However, after around 15 minutes of swimming, the pair discovered that they “still had not made progress towards the boat”.
“The water was choppy and Plaintiffs started swimming more aggressively towards the Vessel,” the suit stated, NBC reports. “At approximately 12.20pm, after another 15 minutes (approx.) of aggressive swimming, the Vessel was clearly farther from Plaintiffs than it was at the last time they had checked.”
The lawsuit claims that crew members did three headcounts but according to other passengers, the crew did not ask them to stay still during the counting process.
“It was just too disorganized. Everybody kept moving, so they easily got missed,” Jessica Hebert, a Louisiana resident who was also on the tour, told Hawaii News Now.
“Our facts show that they did a headcount, came up two short, then they did another headcount, came up two short,” Washkowitz told Insider. According to Washkowitz, the crew reportedly counted the total number of guests during the third headcount and proceeded to head to the second location.
Webster and Burckle attempted to swim in the same direction that the boat was moving but the water became increasingly deep, the lawsuit said.
“Plaintiffs realized the Vessel had left them and was not coming back for them, and they decided that their only option for survival at that point was to return to shore,” it stated.
“Plaintiffs were extremely fearful and nervous about the decision because they were told in the safety briefing explicitly not to swim to Lanai and that shallow reefs were in the area.”
The couple eventually reached the shore at around 1pm and were helped by an island resident who found them dehydrated and fatigued.
Webster and Burckle are currently seeking compensation for general damages and emotional distress.
