Wrongful death suit filed over boat explosion in Turks & Caicos

The late Charles E. Fraser

Friday, November 28, 2003

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, USA: Representatives for the estate of Hilton Head Island developer, the late Charles E. Fraser, together with Fraser's widow, Mary, have filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court in Charleston, S.C. against the boat manufacturer, the tour operator and other parties involved in the accidental death of Mr. Fraser last December. 

The accident occurred in the Turks and Caicos Islands, when the boat in which the Fraser family was riding exploded without warning.

Fraser carved the Sea Pines residential and resort community out of the 5,280-acre backwoods of southern Hilton Head Island in South Carolina in the late 1950s, when the 42-square-mile barrier island was sparsely populated and little known, transforming Hilton Head into a world-renowned resort.

At a press conference Thursday, attorneys for the family said the complaint is a products liability and negligence action claiming general and special damages for wrongful death and severe personal injuries. Wayward Boats, a South Florida company, and J&B Tours of the Turks and Caicos Islands are the primary defendants.

The suit is based on allegations that the motor vessel employed by the tour operator at the family's behest was unfit for service as a passenger vessel for hire; that it was fraudulently registered as adhering to U.S. and British safety standards; that it was negligently repaired, maintained and operated; that the operators were aware of gasoline vapors leaking into the bilge; that they had been warned of the danger that those leaks posed, yet continued to allow the boat to be put out to hire, and thereby, willfully with gross negligence, put the Fraser family in an unsafe and dangerous situation.

Attorney Charles Scarminach said the suit was filed in part to call attention to the risks travelers often unwittingly subject themselves to by traveling to destinations that promote tourism but fail to adequately monitor or regulate basic safety codes and regulations.

"It is strikingly ironic that a man who achieved worldwide recognition as a visionary in resort planning which earned international awards for setting new standards of excellence, would die in a tragic accident because of unscrupulous individuals who flaunt local regulatory authorities and thereby endanger travelers who have innocently placed their trust in them" said Scarminach.

Scarminach said the Fraser family hopes a significant by- product of the litigation will be a tightening enforcement of local safety regulations in tourist venues throughout the hemisphere.

Scarminach's law partner Dale Akins said the boat on which the Fraser family was riding was "a floating time bomb".

  Back...

  Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed

  Printable version