Couple lives honeymoon in nightmare Hawaii, boat abandons them while they were snorkeling and sue the company
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A couple from California lived an experience they will never forget, after the ship where they were taking a tour abandoned them in the middle of the ocean, for which they had to swim for several minutes to save their lives.
Elizabeth Webster and her husband, Alexander Burckle, enjoyed their honeymoon in Hawaii and within their trips they paid for a snorkeling tour off the Lanai coast of Sail Maui, however, they never imagined that they would live the worst experience of their lives.
According to NBC News, the couple were among the 44 passengers who embarked from the port of Lahaina for the tour on September 23, 2021, however, the ship that was carrying them abandoned them in the ocean and after an hour in the ocean, they were forced to swim to shore.
The couple said in the lawsuit, filed recently, that the captain informed everyone that the ship would remain anchored at the location for about an hour before moving to a second location. Webster and Burckle said the captain did not give a specific time when everyone should return to the ship.
Elizabeth Webster and her husband, Alexander Burckle, have filed a lawsuit against the Hawaii-based tour company. https://t.co/IiYKghPeq2
β BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) March 5, 2023
The 44 passengers entered the water around 10:50 a.m. Burckle and his wife, both experienced divers who had been to Maui several times, swam north on the captain's instructions.
Throughout the excursion, the passengers returned to the ship at different times, the lawsuit says.
At around 11:50 a.m. Burckle and Webster began to head back to the boat and noticed that the water had begun to chop and after about 15 minutes of swimming the pair realized that they had still not made any progress towards the boat. .
The couple signaled that they were in trouble and called for help in the direction of the boat without success. The ship then moved to her second location.
Burckle and his wife tried to swim in the direction the boat was moving, but the water was getting deeper, according to the lawsuit. They began to panic as they struggled to swim in ocean conditions.
βThe plaintiffs realized that the vessel had left them and would not return for them , and they decided that their only option to survive at that point was to return to shore,β the lawsuit states.
The couple were extremely fearful and nervous about the decision because they were explicitly told at the safety briefing not to swim to Lanai and that there were shallow reefs in the area.
The couple washed ashore, noting that they were dehydrated and fatigued. They received help from a resident on the island.
The lawsuit claims that a passenger on the boat tried to tell a crew member that Burckle and his wife had swum farther out into the ocean during the excursion, but the crew member allegedly told the passenger that they had returned.