The decision was made on Friday and today tour operator Vance Cabral got the news that the now deadly diving trip that he led two Saturdays ago in Placencia was his last.
On Friday the 9 member Tour Operators Licensing Committee met and voted unanimously to revoke the license held by Cabral's Advance Diving Shop. In making its decision, the board reviewed the Police Department's report on last Saturday's incident which left four tourists stranded in the water's off of Placencia for nearly 55 hours. One of the tourists never made it and the ones who survived say the boat had no radio and no back up engine.
The board also considered that less than a year ago on December 28th Cabral was in another diving accident. In that incident a boat with 10 people was returning from Glover's Reef when it overturned. At that time, Cabral's license was suspended for one month and he was placed on probation for one year starting in January of this year. At the time of last Saturday's ill-fated trip, Cabral was still on probation.
Cabral's tour guide license expired in December of last year and his sideman Mark Tucker's license expired in April of this year. That means that both men who led the ill-fated tour in rough seas were not licensed to do so. That is a criminal offence, and the police are expected to bring charges for it. The BTB says it will recommend that the tour guide licensing committee similarly revoke Mark Tucker's guide license. Vance Cabral and his dive shop Advanced Diving will also be summoned for hiring an unlicensed guide, which is Mark Tucker.
Meanwhile a memorial service the dive trip's only casualty Abigale Brinkman will be held tomorrow in her hometown.
