A Hawaii tour company is facing a $5 million lawsuit filed by a newlywed couple who claim they were abandoned during a snorkelling trip on their honeymoon. Alexander Burckle and Elizabeth Webster booked the trip with Maui Sail Company for Lanai, a tiny island near Maui, in September 2021.
While on the 10 am expedition with 42 other passengers, the couple swam out into the ocean to snorkel. However, they began to get caught up in turbulent water that was becoming choppy and was unable to make their way back to the boat, which deserted them as they called for help.
The couple claimed that they feared drowning was imminent and desperately tried to stay afloat, but their efforts led them into even deeper, more troubled waters. Facing waves up to eight feet high, they realized that swimming to the island, which tour guides had advised against, was their only way to survive.
They were struggling to swim in the ocean conditions and were beginning to panic. Fortunately, the couple got to the shore of the Lanai island but were in bad shape, claiming in the suit they were fatigued and dehydrated.
The couple wrote ‘SOS’ and ‘HELP’ in the island sand to attract attention. They were later found and given water and the use of phones by local Lanai residents. The suit alleges that when Webster got in touch with Sail Maui at around 1:15 p.m., three hours after they’d gone missing, they admitted they did not notice anyone was missing from the tour.
The first mate made three head counts and twice had said they were two people short of the 44 guests before counting a third time and incorrectly saying all 44 were on board.
Their attorney, Jared Washkowitz, claims that they weren’t given boundaries and didn’t identify a lifeguard or any kind of system for the tourists to help one another.
He said, “It can be really rough water even for people that are experienced in the ocean, much fewer visitors who may not have any ocean experience or especially not have experience in Hawaiian waters.”
An investigation by the Coast Guard into the incident found negligence on the part of the captain, according to BuzzFeed.
The company had since revised its procedures to require vocal contact with each passenger. However, Sail Maui declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The complaint said that the couple is suing for $5 million because they claim they feared they would drown on the half-mile swim to the nearest island of Lanai near Maui.
Jessica Herbert, a fellow passenger on that cruise, told Good Morning America that the staff assured the guests that everybody was on and that the crew had not forced everyone to stay in place and were left to count people moving around below deck.
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