Dramatic footage has emerged of the frantic moment boat crew members raced to rescue 19 passengers after the speedboat they were traveling on capsized in Mexico.
The boat was carrying 17 travel passengers and two crew members returning from a trip to Isla Mujeres and was heading back to Cancún when the accident occurred on Monday.
Four passengers – all Mexican nationals – drowned and 13 others were taken to a local hospital for treatment. One woman remained in hospital Friday.
The boat captain, Ramón Cruz, was arrested moments after the incident.
A boat company employee was seen on video rescuing passengers on a tour boat that capsized between Isla Mujeres and Cancun on Monday. Four passengers drowned and 13 others were rescued along with the boat captain and a worker
The captain of the Cancún tour boat, Ramón Cruz, was arrested shortly after Monday's accident. He appeared before a judge on Thursday and was remanded in custody as prosecutors and police in Quintana Roo continue to investigate the incident that left four people dead
Video showed the 26-foot single-engine boat Diosa de Mar (Goddess of the Sea) overturning in the middle of the bay and passengers in life jackets struggling to stay afloat in the rough seas.
Shortly after a yacht arrived at the scene to assist in rescue efforts, one of the workers was seen throwing a ring buoy and swimming a passenger to grab it.
Another worker was also seen retrieving a larger flotation device that had at least three people clinging to it.
Cruz appeared before a judge on Thursday and was remanded in custody while prosecutors and police in Quinatana Roo state investigated the accident. He is scheduled to return to court on February 5.
“During the trip, a wave allegedly caused people to move from place to place and due to the weight, water entered through the bow and sank the boat, in which a total of 19 people were traveling,” said the Quintana Roo Attorney General's Office in a statement.
A video showed how passengers on the tour boat that capsized in a bay between Isla Mujeres and Cancún were held to a ring buoy and caught up by a rescue ship
A paramedic provides oxygen to one of the injured victims after the speedboat they were traveling in capsized between Isla Mujeres and Cancún on Monday evening
Quintana Roo's attorney general said the boat capsized moments after “a wave allegedly caused people to move from place to place” and that the extra weight on one side of the vessel caused “water entered through the bow and caused the boat to sink”. in which a total of 19 people were traveling”
The narrow straight between Isla Mujeres and Cancún is a busy waterway used by ferries, private pleasure craft and small charter boats.
The area is very busy and popular with tourists and there have been several accidents there in the past.
In 2022, two American divers died near Cancún when a submersible boat passed over them despite flags and buoys warning them of their presence.
Two dozen tourists, including foreigners, were injured in 2018 when a bomb exploded aboard a passenger ferry in Playa del Carmen, the resort south of Cancún.
British singer Kirsty MacColl was killed by a boat propeller while diving in Cozumel, opposite Playa del Carmen, in 2000.