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Male tourist drowns
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Posted on Mar 08 2012
Lifeguard says cops came, no medics
By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter
Reporter
A Japanese tourist drowned at a beach near the Hyatt Regency Saipan and Fiesta Resort and Spa Saipan late Tuesday afternoon.
The Department of Public Safety has yet to release information about the incident.
Sources from the Commonwealth Health Center, DPS, Fiesta Resort, and Hyatt confirmed with Saipan Tribune, however, that a tourist, about 60 to 65 years old, drowned in the area on Tuesday.
The victim was already dead on arrival at the hospital, sources said.
Frank Fourkan, a lifeguard and beach boy of Sakura, said that police officers came and that he did not see any medics.
Fourkan said the victim and three other elderly male Japanese guests had gone to the beach Tuesday afternoon. He said the three tourists just sat on the beachside while the victim went swimming.
He said that the captain of a 20-foot passenger boat coming from Managaha Island later spotted the victim floating in the water. The captain took the victim to the boat and brought him ashore.
Fourkan and three other beach boys carried the victim on a chair toward the police’s vehicles parked near the shoreline.
Fourkan said there were three to four police cars, but there was no ambulance.
He said they decided to put the victim on a pickup truck driven by a police officer.
The victim was then brought to CHC where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
“It’s very frustrating. We could have applied CPR but we can’t touch the body. DPS is very slow. Medics should come first and not police,” the lifeguard said.
The tourist is the first drowning victim in the CNMI this year.
Last year, only one drowning victim was reported. The son of B&R Auto Shop’s owner drowned while scuba diving with some friends at Lau Lau Beach in April 2011.
