August 17th, 2015 (ICR News) One woman was injured and another woman identified as Cristina Smith Benita Gonzalez, 58 died when a water taxi and a tourist vessel collided in Barra del Tortugero, Limon around midnight on Sunday. The deceased was identified as a Nicaraguan national.
The two women were traveling in a water taxi that collided with a tourist vessel carrying 25 German tourists some 4 kilometers from the coast. The German tourists were returning from watching the nighttime nesting of sea turtles in a nearby location, according to initial reports and information provided by the Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ).
Several witnesses said that both vessels were traveling with their lights turned off, according to La Nacion.
Tortuguero police chief, Adriano Rodriguez said that authorities are investigating weather the boat carrying the German tourists may have been traveling at excessive speed.
Last week, a foreign tourist was killed in a boating accident off Los Sueños resort on the country’s Pacific coast.