Chimene, who is from Austin, Texas, thought the tour would be safe because — as she would later state in a lawsuit — Royal Caribbean “guarantee[s] that the excursions are planned by 'insured partners who adhere to the highest safety standards in the industry.'"
But after harnessing up on the
She underwent emergency surgery in Honduras and was then evacuated via air ambulance to a trauma hospital in Houston, where she had an additional ten operations over the course of a month, which left her with unseemly purplish scars running down her legs.
"I am maimed for life," Chimene told New Times. "I am still in pain."
Chimene was one of at least ten passengers who complained to Royal Caribbean about their Roatan ziplining trips before this past July 5, when 24-year-old Igal Tyszman was killed on that same excursion. Tyszman crashed into his new wife, 27-year-old Shir Frenkel, during their honeymoon, according to a lawsuit Frenkel filed this past November in a case that has garnered international attention.
Royal Caribbean's press representative, Owen Torres, said the company could not respond to inquiries regarding Tyszman's death, Chimene's horrific injuries, or the history of other incidents on that
Though ziplining is generally safe and thousands of guests have enjoyed it around the world, significant problems have cropped up in Royal Caribbean's excursion in Roatan. To chronicle these issues, New Times reviewed emails to and from tour operators and the cruise line's legal department, guest injury statements, depositions from passengers, and statements submitted through a customer feedback portal. The problems echo those that allegedly led to Tyszman's death and Chimene's injuries: little or no communication between the starting and ending platforms, a lack of visibility, and a brake system that did not always work properly.
Here are some examples:
• In October 2014, Vicky Kehrer told Royal Caribbean she and her husband were unable to stop on the
• On December 29, 2014, Brenda Lee Marty Jimenez told Royal Caribbean she and her daughter had suffered injuries when the brake failed on the
• On August 6, 2015, Jesse McMillen and his family were injured on the
In most cases, tour guides blamed the injuries on rider error. For instance, after a passenger named Karen Schnexnayder bruised the back of both legs when spinning as she tried to mount a platform, the tour company's general manager wrote that
In one shocking incident on New Year's Day 2014, Shannon Laza, a 44-year-old from Texas, informed Royal Caribbean that 15 people had been trapped on the
First, four kids and a guide were sent down the
"The crash and being suspended in the air from the second highest
Finally, the guides stopped sending people. Thirty minutes later, operators freed the 15 trapped on the line. Laza said one of her daughter's ribs was so badly bruised she could hardly move the next day and skipped dinner.
Laza said Royal Caribbean's excursion manager blamed the issue on the fact a boy in the first group had gotten stuck on the line. "I explained to her that the problem was not the first group being stuck,” Laza wrote, “but the lack of communication from platform to platform and the fact that they kept sending people."
The same issue is alleged to have occurred this past July 5, when newlyweds Frenkel and Tyszman departed Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas for the Extreme Caribe Zip Line Tour in Roatan.
There was a torrential downpour that Thursday afternoon, but the excursion went on anyway, court records show. Frenkel went first. She got stuck somewhere along the
Debi Chalik, Frenkel's attorney, says the couple was instructed by guides "not to touch the brakes" on the zipline because they might fail to reach the end. Chalik says they were also told they must hold themselves in a plank position with their face turned upward (despite the heavy rain) in order to maintain momentum on the line. Frenkel got stuck on the line and began falling backward, while her husband, who was looking up and had no idea he was approaching his wife, crashed into her.
"It's unbelievable to ignore that and to continue sending passengers to that excursion," said Chalik, adding that Frenkel "still has not healed emotionally or physically. She goes to therapy every day, psychiatric and physical. Her life has been destroyed; her husband is gone. They were on their honeymoon, for God's sake."
Frenkel is suing Royal Caribbean for $1 million, alleging the company was grossly negligent in continuing to advertise what was clearly a dangerous ziplining excursion to passengers.
Chimene, the Texan whose legs were severely injured in 2015, still grapples with the severity of those injuries every day. The operations required skin and muscle grafts, badly scarring her legs, which sometimes still swell. Chimene says she keeps several pillows bound together next to her bed in case she needs to elevate her legs. When she went to Disney World this past September, she wrapped her legs with Ace bandages so children wouldn't have to see the wounds.
Chimene says she sued to recoup her medical costs and to get Royal Caribbean to acknowledge the ziplining excursion was dangerous and then stop advertising it to guests. Though she settled the case March 16, 2018, for an undisclosed sum, the cruise line did not cease delivering guests to the Extreme Caribe Zip Line Tour in Roatan. Four months later, Igal Tyszman crashed into his wife there and died.
"When I heard about the accident this summer, I was absolutely devastated," Chimene says. “It's bad enough that I have to deal with this, but that a newlywed was killed is just beyond devastating."