Canadian Tourist Killed in Honduras

[rpowers]

Article

 

[abitton]

How very sad...
Thet were in a bus heading to La Ceiba to dive...

Honduran thieves kill Canadian student
Last Updated Tue, 07 Jun 2005 13:45:24 EDT
CBC News
A university student from Quebec's Magdalen Islands was killed Sunday as he tried to protect a friend from robbers during a trip to Honduras.

Jocelyn Masse and his friend, Mélanie Poirier, had travelled to the Central American country for a diving holiday.

They were passengers on a bus that was boarded by robbers.

Masse, a student at Laval University in Quebec City, was killed when he tried to protect Poirier from being attacked by the thieves, reports say.

Poirier is expected to return to Canada Wednesday.

 

[H2Andy]

that's awful news... simply terrible... imagine going on holiday and being killed
by robbers... sigh...

i've moved this here from the Accidents and Incidents, as it is not a diving or
free diving accident.

also, it belongs in Central America, but pending creation of that forum... i placed it here

 

[StSomewhere]

How very sad...
Thet were in a bus heading to La Ceiba to dive...

Is La Ceiba on the Honduran mainland? Where is that from Utila or Roatan?

 

[hopefulist]

La Ceiba is the "jumping off place" on the mainland of Honduras for planes and ferries to Utila and Roatan.

 

[drbill]

When I worked on a cruise ship in Belizean and Honduran waters, we were warned about walking around the port town (Puerto Cortez) in Honduras alone and told to go in groups. Of course the same could be said for some areas in the large cities in the States!

 

[Doc]

Is La Ceiba on the Honduran mainland? Where is that from Utila or Roatan?

Herein lies the inherent danger of posting this arguably useful information- then having it moved by a well meaning Mod to a forum where it will cause nothing but ill founded concern.

Utila and Roatan are part of the Bay Islands which lie 30 miles North of the mainland of Honduras. 95% of the divers who visit the Bay Islands land there directly from their US Gateway cities of Houston or Miami, or fly through the transit lounge in the airport at Belize City. There are now direct flights from Canada, as well.

How one might be "boarding a bus to La Ceiba enroute to dive"... well, that's a route that is less than well travelled by divers. Rather unusual itinnerary, at best.

There is little concern of any personal crime to the Bay Islands unless one goes looking for it.

When one travels outside their normal sphere of understanding, it might be wise to seek counsel in regards to potential for such occurances as well as correct methods for reaction. If we were to take these news reports at face value- a bus being boarded and a robbery in progress, we can not second guess the actions of these unfortunate souls.

Best advice? Compliance with no threatening movements.

Best prevention? Secrete your real documents and majority of money on your person under your clothing, having a "drop wallet" that contains a lot of singles, some outdated credit cards, and good laminated color xeroxes of ID's. Be ready to hand it over. Wear only jewelry that you are preopared to lose. (Whoopee, I'm single for a week!) An expired passport is also handy.

If you are capable of defending yourself, I would consider it only as a last resort where you were about to sustain greivous, life threatening physical injury. Maybe you can transport a knife in your checked bags, but are you good enough to use it in such a capacity? Probably not. Then, add into the equation that these guys were raised with knives in their hands, nevetr mind the pistolas.

All in all, not much to concern yourselves with, at least not on the streets of the Bay islands, pretty much so Mayberry RFD by comparison. On the mainland however(outside of the airports) including La Ceiba, Belize City, Tegus and others... stay in the airport, Sparky.

 

[rockbeauty]

It's a very sad story. I feel really touch, maybe because the student killed was from Quebec...
RoatanMan, I know most people fly directly to the islands but I wouldn't say that it's an unusual itinary...maybe from the Roatan crowd (I know, I don't like to generalize either) but almost everybody I dove with (and I met a lot of people) in Utila/Jewel caye were taking the boat and bus back to either SAP or another city they were flying from.
It could be bad publicity for Honduras but we all know that wherever you go in central america, in Asia, even in many big US cities or in your hometown, there could be some danger...it just make it look more real when you heard a story like that.
I am still going to go diving in Utila and Roatan in july, I might just take the boat and the plane from La Ceiba to SAP instead of the bus! No more beautiful bus rides through the mountains...at least until next year...
See you there H2Andy!

 

[peterbj7]

Whilst the Bay Islands may well be perfectly safe - I don't know, I've never been there - there are undeniably some amazing atrocities occasionally in mainland Honduras. I'm all for publicising such events so people who choose to go there do so with their eyes open. I deplore attempts to hush them up, such as has been done officially in Belize (by Government, Police and Tourist authorities).

 

[lsudive]

There is crime everywhere. People get killed, and it is always terrible. Hopefully, the result of this story will be that people will be more careful and more aware of their surroundings, but not afraid to travel outside their own backyards. This story and that of Natalee in Aruba, while heartbreaking, are not much different than stories that happen in the States every day.

We flew into SPS and La Ceiba last week. Stayed in the airports. It does seem odd that they were taking a bus to La Ceiba rather than a flight, but who can tell what the circumstances were. It's a pity that it happened, though. And the poor girl he was trying to save . . .