Son of 71-year-old who died on Great Barrier Reef cruise claims Reef Experience’s lawyer approached him as he held his father’s body

The son of a 71-year-old man who died during a snorkeling trip to the Great Barrier Reef claims he was approached by the tour boat’s lawyer while holding his father’s body.

Adrian Meyer, from Angaston, South Australia, died after he and a group of snorkelers were swept over the reef by a strong current on Monday afternoon.

He was with his son Nicholas Meyer and daughter Angela Henson about 60 kilometers off the coast northeast of Cairns when disaster struck.

Dangerous weather conditions had swept the snorkelers far from the boat and a strong current prevented them from swimming back.

It is believed that 71-year-old Meyer suffered a medical episode while struggling with the current and boarded a rescue ship that sank a short time later.

A nearby boat, which one witness described as a kind of “bloated duckling,” stepped in to pull the unconscious Mr. Meyer from the water and take him to the main ship.

All the while, frightened swimmers left behind began screaming after seeing a persistent reef shark.

Back on the boat with his father, Nicholas Meyer said a paramedic was lowered onto the boat from a rescue helicopter and after he and his sister cried and screamed for half an hour, it was confirmed that their father was dead.

Mr Meyer said he lay on the floor next to his father’s body, which had been moved to the captain’s cabin, and held his hand throughout the journey back to Cairns.

When the boat docked, Mr. Meyer claims he was immediately met by a lawyer representing Reef Experience.

“I was tending to my father’s body when he introduced himself,” he told the newspaper Cairns Post on Friday.

‘He handed me his card when he came up to me and asked: ‘Is this your father?’.

“I said, ‘I’d rather not answer questions.’ I’d rather you leave.’

Mr. Meyer said he burst into tears and began hugging his father before the lawyer finally left.

Mrs Henson, who was adopted at five weeks old and only met her biological father five years ago.

She described the horrific 90-minute boat ride to shore with their father’s body, noting they had no phone reception to reach relatives.

‘We were stuck there for three hours with his dead body. I screamed and banged my fist on the wooden door. “I was fucking furious,” she said.

The pair told the publication that their father “would be alive today” if the guides had better tested the water conditions before the snorkelers left.

“We’re not going to let this go,” Meyer said.

He added that Queensland’s Tourism Minister had said: “I certainly don’t want this to be blown out of proportion.”

But Mr. Meyer argued that “no one is saying this should be this way.” But at the same time, no one should die on the Great Barrier Reef.”

The family has hired personal injury attorney Travis Schultz of Travis Schultz and Partners since the loss of their father.

Two other passengers, Amber and Luke Hooper, believe the five-hour ‘nightmare’ could have been avoided if the tour operator, Reef Experience, had decided to keep passengers out of the water.

“It seems far-fetched that so much could go wrong,” Ms Hooper said Courier mail.

‘We were swimming when I suddenly noticed I was about 100 yards from the boat.’

‘I tried to swim back, but I just wouldn’t move. The current was so strong. There were also people around me who were struggling, including a young man and woman in my neighborhood.”

The mother-of-two was terrified she wouldn’t get home to her children, and was currently heavily pregnant with a third.

Both Mr. Meyer and Mrs. Henson described their late father as a great environmentalist and snorkeling enthusiast with a “heart of gold.”

His death was especially hard on his wife, Rosalyn, who has stage four cancer.

“Now Mom doesn’t have a caregiver anymore,” Mr. Meyer said.

Queensland Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the coroner and Workplace Health and Safety Queensland would also investigate.

“I don’t want to make a big deal about those kinds of areas, but these are all things that need to be looked at very carefully in relation to the operator, in relation to the overall business, the circumstances of the day,” he says. said.

“Any tragedy that occurs anywhere in our community, but especially in our visitor economy, is something of great concern and I would like to express my condolences.”

An investigation is underway as police prepare a report for the coroner.

Ny Breaking Australia has contacted Reef Experience for comment.