It was the single largest diving disaster in Belize's modern tourism history when four tourists out on a diving trip got stranded in the open sea in October of 2005. American nationals Nancy Masters, John Bain, and Abigale Brinkman along with Japanese national Yutaka Maeda were lost for 55 hours. Masters, Maeda, and Bain survived but brinkman didn't. It is a harrowing and remarkable tale of survival which up until tonight, hasn't been told on camera in Belize. John Bain is one of the survivors and two weeks ago he sat down with Keith Swift and recounted the 55 hours that changed his life forever.
John Bain, Survivor
"There was very little time out there when I had hope that I would make it."
For 55 hours John Bain was lost in this vast expanse of sea off the coast of the Placencia Peninsula. His ordeal began on October 23rd 2005.
John Bain,
"On my stroll through Placencia I noticed the name of 'Advanced Diving', which had been in my tour book as being a recommended dive company, known for their safety. So I was happy to have found that and the next morning I woke up bright and early and stopped over there at 7 am or so when they opened and Vance Cabral was opening his shop and I asked him if he was diving that day and he said he was."
A few hours later Bain along with 9 other tourists set out on their snorkeling and diving tour led by tour operator Vance Cabral. But 25 minutes into the trip - there was trouble.
John Bain,
"The motor just sort of died and at that point Vance appeared to be familiar with that problem and he took the cover off the engine and unscrewed the filter, looked at it, poured it out, and said that there was water in the gas and he fiddled with it a bit and put it back together and after a couple turns he then restarted and we off again."
And off they went, the group of snorkelers got off at Silk Caye but Bain along the 3 other divers continued on. But they didn't get far because the boat's engine failed - this was the second time it had done so.
John Bain,
"We'd only been away from Silk Caye for maybe two to five minutes when the motor died again. We were still inside of Silk Caye, maybe I don't, half of a mile - three quarters of a mile away from Silk Caye. BB Tucker tried to get the motor working, trying to replicate what Vance had done but was unable to and a fair amount of time went by, at least half an hour to forty five minutes, while this was going on. I suggested that he throw the anchor and he didn't and somebody else suggested that we try the radio and we did and it didn't work. At some point, BB decided to throw the anchor over to keep us from drifting further away and when he did, the chain that was holding the anchor was so rusted through that it just snapped."
With the engine gone and no radio and no anchor - the five divers were lost in literally the middle of the sea; it was them - versus the currents.
John Bain,
"We made the decision to swim to Silk Caye and at no time was there
any warning, any mention that we shouldn't do it. The currents were so strong that as we were spinning against the current towards Silk Caye the boat was being taken by the current in the other direction and we quickly lost sight of the caye and also the boat and we were lost just in a matter of minutes."
Bain says that was compounded when he realized that his lifejacket was no good.
John Bain,
"The buoyancy compensating jacket I was wearing was full of holes. Not one or two holes but maybe ten or twenty holes that obviously was in a state of disrepair and so I wasn't buoyant at all when I was out there and I had to, it took a whole of energy just to keep myself afloat. The seas were very rough and you expected to see rescue planes or vessels within a few hours of when we were lost and in fact we saw nothing the whole first day and the seas getting worse and worse."
And he would have to do that for 55 hours.
John Bain,
"The first day and a half I held on to Yutaka Maeda, I finally was able to get to him after several hours of struggling, and then I grabbed on to his jacket which was his own personal equipment and it was working and it kept us both afloat and about a day and a half later, Yutaka and I split up and I didn't see him again."
Bain was rescued on October 24th. He along with the other survivors were flown by helicopter to the Universal Health Services Hospital where he spent a day
in the intensive care unit and immediately left Belize. This is Bain's third trip to Belize since the diving disaster in October of 2005, and there is a reason why he is here.
John Bain,
"I'm representing the family of the Brinkmans in some manner to seek justice."
He is talking about Abigale Brinkman - the diver who didn't survive the accident. But that's not the only reason why Bain keeps coming back to Belize.
John Bain,
"I am motivated to improve the safety so that this sort of accident doesn't happen again. I don't really want anything but justice. I'd like to see there be penalties for negligence. I know that it has been hard on all of us survivors and the family of the Brinkmans and friends of Abby but its also had to be hard on BB Tucker and Vance Cabral in some manner.
I think there must be a much stronger effort to improve the safety of diving. It is a poor country here in Belize but the sport of diving is not a poor thing. It is a first world activity. Those of us who dive, we can afford to pay another $5 or $10 if that will help improve the safety.
I think it is the attitude of everyone concerned with Belize that needs to be improved. It's a self regulating industry. There has been a tremendous resistance towards any sort of government involvement or any sort of safety standards being imposed but if it is self-regulating then it is not regulating and people with shotty dive operations are going to be able to operate without any, and be able to flaunt the laws."
And while the law is one thing, Bain describes the response of the Belize Tourism Board in one word:
John Bain,
"I would say mediocre. I think the management of the BTB needs a change in attitude. They have been very adversarial and very defensive and I don't think that is proper. I think a much better attitude is for them to be proactive and recognize this as an opportunity to improve safety."
It's been close to two years since the accident but its 55 hours which Bain says he'll never forget.
John Bain,
"I struggle with it all the time and maybe it is something I will never get over but I am working on it."
According to Bain, Abigale Brinkman's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Vance Cabral. We must stress that is according to Bain because we've gotten no independent confirmation. Bain says his most recent trip to Belize was in an attempt to try and get the trial moved from Dangriga to the Belize City Magistrate's Court.
As previously reported, Vance Cabral and Mark Tucker won't face criminal charges because the statute of limitations on the charges have already ran out. The Belize Tourism Board has confirmed that Cabral and Tucker are not working as tour guides or tour operators.
As for Bain's comments about the BTB, Deputy Director in charge of Product Development Anthony Mahler told us that the board has done everything in its power to assist John Bain. Again Bain, who is an attorney in the United States, is not suing the government but the Brinkman family allegedly is.
The boat was never recovered.
