SEATTLE — Tourist Diana Mechling jumped from the back of a boat last February into the warm waters off the coast of Belize to start snorkeling.
Moments later, the operator tried to steady the boat by putting it in reverse, but the propeller sucked Mechling beneath the craft, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Seattle.
Her husband Michael Mechling watched in horror as her lacerated body was quickly pulled onto the boat, the suit states. She died at a hospital.
Mechling filed the wrongful death and negligence lawsuit against Seattle-based cruise line Holland America, as well as the Belize-based operator of the snorkeling excursion, Cruise Solutions.
“It’s a horrific event,” said Charles Moure, Mechling’s attorney. “She died in his arms. It is a very traumatic event for him.”
The lawsuit filed in a federal court seeks unspecified damages. It says Michael Mechling is from Ohio but didn’t provide a city.
Holland America did not immediately return a call Thursday seeking comment. An e-mail message to Cruise Solutions was not answered.
The lawsuit said the Mechlings were on a cruise in the Caribbean and had purchased excursions at various ports. One was the snorkeling trip in Belize.
The seas were rough on the day of the trip, and guides determined the group should dive by the boat instead of the waters off an island, the lawsuit states.
After his wife entered the water, “Michael Mechling realized that he could not see Diana Mechling and began yelling, ‘Where is my wife?'” the lawsuit says.
Diana Mechling eventually was hoisted back onto the boat, which raced back to shore. She remained conscious for part of the trip, repeatedly saying, “‘I can’t breathe,”‘ the lawsuit says.
She was declared dead at a hospital.
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