ST. THOMAS — The West Indian Company is taking a fresh look at water safety and security measures at the Havensight dock on St. Thomas in light of an incident last month when a wheelchair-bound cruise ship passenger rolled off the dock and into the water.
Positioning of life-saving rings (“donuts”), rope ladders along the 3,300-foot dock, and safety equipment kept on security vehicles are being re-evaluated. “The positioning of the life-rings seem to be one, away from the edge of the water, and two, they don’t seem to be frequent enough,” said board member Enrique Rodriguez.
According to Mark Sabino, WICO director of Marine and Cruise Services, “… We can increase the number of life-rings at the gates. We are going to put life rings on the golf carts (used by security), as well, for the security and marine services.”
The discussion stemmed from an incident a month ago where a young cruise ship passenger was famously saved by a USVI tourism department deejay and an off-duty Mocko Jumbie, whose rescue efforts were caught on video.
In the video, a young woman is seen in the water gripping a life ring that had been thrown to her as Kashief “DJ Kuntry” Hamilton and his friend, Randolph “Junior” Donovan, hold on to her to keep her from going underwater. The unnamed girl was a passenger on board the Carnival Fascination, which makes a weekly call on St. Thomas.
The passenger and family were taking photos on the dock when her chair rolled backward into the water between the dock and the ship gangway. Hearing the commotion, Mr. Donovan jumped into the water and held the girl up to put a life-ring around her. As Mr. Donovan began to struggle, Mr. Hamilton leaped into the water to fasten a rope around them both.
With the help of port security and tourism workers, the girl was pulled to safety.
WICO’s interim president Anthony Ottley said the current positioning of water safety and survival equipment is appropriately placed at guard gates and on board golf carts used by port staff. But WICO will take another look at what more can be done to assure safety equipment is accessible when needed.
“They are positioned in an ideal spot, right off of where… We have a life ring at each gate in the crash box,” said Mr. Ottley. He said that as soon as port security and the port marine staff arrive, they supplied the life-ring.
Incidents like the one last month are extremely rare, officials said. And, when people do go into the water off the Havensight dock, “ … it’s because they jump,” Mr. Sabino said. “They jump voluntarily, swimming around there drunk. It’s very rare that we have this type of (accidental) situation.”
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