Newspaper records between August 2025 and August 2026 identify fires, collisions, and mechanical failures involving tourist and recreational vessels
SANTO DOMINGO. – The death of a 25-year-old woman and the injuries suffered by another passenger after a catamaran capsized in Punta Salinas, Baní, has once again brought the safety of vessels used for recreational and tourist activities in the country under scrutiny.
A review of press reports compiled for this story, covering the period from August 25, 2025, to August 25, 2026, identifies at least seven significant accidents or incidents involving boats, launches, and catamarans in Dominican waters. Three people died and dozens were injured, and in several cases, official investigations remain open
The Don Castro catamaran accident, which occurred on Sunday, August 23, 2026, is not an isolated incident: the episodes range from sinkings apparently caused by damage to the hull to fires, mechanical failures and collisions with people carrying out aquatic activities.
In the cases reviewed, there are three confirmed fatalities, in addition to dozens of injuries. Other accidents resulted in no deaths, but required rescue operations and placed passengers and crew in dangerous situations.
The count does not include shipwrecks of vessels dedicated to the irregular transport of migrants, because the objective is to specifically observe the safety of boats, launches and catamarans used in recreational, tourist or minor navigation activities.
1. Bávaro: a captain dies after being hit by another boat
The first case located within the period occurred on September 30, 2025, at El Cortecito beach in Bávaro. It involved the death of 37-year-old boat captain Freddy Mateo del Carmen, who was struck by the vessel Chanchi while performing maintenance on another boat.
According to the reconstruction published by Diario Libre, the accident occurred around 10:30 a.m. The boat that struck him was piloted by 34-year-old David Argenis Lorenzo Chalas, who was arrested after the incident.
The medical examiner's report determined the cause of death to be hypovolemic shock and multiple wounds to the face, neck, and left shoulder. The Public Prosecutor's Office, the National Police, the Dominican Navy, and forensic experts participated in the investigation. The vessel involved was taken into custody by the Navy.
The case is different from the others in the count because it was not a shipwreck or a tourist excursion with passengers, but a collision between vessels that ended with the death of a maritime worker, although in a tourist area.
2. Playa Dorada: a catamaran sinks due to strong waves
Just four days later, on October 4, 2025, another catamaran appeared in maritime incident records. Strong swells that affected the Atlantic coast of Puerto Plata caused damage to businesses in Sosúa and Cabarete, and also resulted in the sinking of a catamaran at Playa Dorada.
Civil Defense reported that the Navy was assessing the condition of the vessel and preliminarily attributed the sinking to bad weather.
No casualties were reported in this incident. However, it is relevant to the analysis because it introduces one of the recurring factors in recreational boating: sea conditions as a risk factor for smaller vessels.
3. Samaná: 55 tourists left in the water after a catamaran sinks
On November 9, 2025, the emergency was much greater, when the Boca de Yuma catamaran, about 40 feet long, sank in Samaná Bay while on an excursion in the Los Haitises area.
There were 55 passengers on board, linked to a tourist excursion from the Mein Schiff I cruise ship. The Navy reported that the vessel suffered damage inside the hull and began to take on water.
Naval personnel and other vessels participated in the rescue and the passengers were taken to safety. Images released at the time showed numerous passengers in the water wearing life jackets while waiting to be rescued.
The difference from other accidents of the period was the outcome: there were no fatalities. The quick response of nearby vessels and the Navy prevented a sinking with more than fifty passengers from ending in a greater tragedy.
The incident, however, raised questions: what controls are in place to detect structural deterioration in vessels used for transporting tourists? Which agency is responsible for inspecting them?
4. January 2026: A catamaran is left adrift due to a propulsion failure
On January 10, 2026, another incident occurred that, although it did not result in casualties or the sinking of the vessel, is relevant to understanding the mechanical risks. The Navy located an internationally flagged catamaran about 80 nautical miles south of La Romana that had been adrift while sailing towards Aruba.
The 78-foot vessel, with two crew members—one French and one American—experienced technical problems with one of its engines and its propulsion system. Naval units responded after receiving the alert and assisted the vessel.
Because it was a breakdown without personal consequences, this episode is not counted among the seven main accidents in the count, but it is part of the context: mechanical failure appears again as a risk factor in the navigation of small boats.
5. Saona Island: A tourist boat hits a diver, causing an amputation
On May 11, 2026, off the coast of Saona Island, one of the most serious accidents of the period occurred in terms of injuries. The tourist vessel Adrien III was heading towards Saona Island when it struck Stavros Floros, a 22-year-old Greek citizen who was spearfishing.
According to the report filed by the Navy, Floros was diving without a marker buoy in the area where the Survivor program was being filmed. The impact of the propellers caused a partial amputation of his left leg and a considerable injury to his right ankle.
The young man was attended to by the 9-1-1 system and transferred to the Central Romana Medical Center, and the Navy opened an investigation to establish the circumstances of the accident.
The case introduces another element that will appear again a month later: the coexistence in the same maritime space of motorized boats and people who snorkel, dive or spearfish.
6. Bahía de las Águilas: a young woman dies after being hit while snorkeling
On June 20, 2026, tragedy struck Bahía de las Águilas when 20-year-old Gabriela Cartagena Gómez was seriously injured by a boat while snorkeling with her family and died as a result of the incident
According to a subsequent investigation published by Diario Libre, Cartagena was in the water near the coast, accompanied by her parents, her brother and a couple of biologists, and a guide was carrying a buoy to signal the group.
The family maintains that a speedboat approached at high speed and ran over the group. The guide and people on the shore tried to warn the driver. Gabriela's father was also reportedly hit by the boat, while she suffered the most serious injuries.
The investigation subsequently led to legal proceedings against the boat's captain. On August 20, a court changed the pretrial detention order to a 20,000-peso bond and a travel ban for Robinson Radhamés Hernández, alias Piter.
The case took on an additional dimension because the victim's family has publicly questioned the signaling, surveillance and speed control mechanisms in areas where bathers, divers and boats coexist.
7. Bayahibe-Saona: Tourist boat catches fire with dozens of people on board
On July 27, 2026, an excursion from Saona Island to Bayahibe ended in a massive emergency when a tourist boat caught fire near Playa Viva, El Abanico area, while returning from the excursion.
The Navy initially reported that 23 people were affected, including the captain, and that all were rescued. The passengers, of various nationalities, were taken to medical centers in La Romana.
Later reports indicated that the vessel was carrying around 35 people and the number of injured people was confirmed.
Days later, the Navy reported that a preliminary hypothesis pointed to a spark from the battery that may have come into contact with fuel from the outboard motors. The institution, however, clarified that this was a hypothesis and not a definitive conclusion.
The accident raised a new question: the safety conditions related to fuel, engines, electrical installations and fire protection systems on vessels that transport large groups of tourists.
8. Punta Salinas: the Don Castro catamaran and the death of Yairi Mateo
The case that motivates this account occurred in Punta Salinas, Baní, on the night of Sunday, August 23, 2026. The Don Castro catamaran was carrying 12 people: six women and six men and capsized in the vicinity of the beach.
All occupants were brought ashore and received initial care from naval personnel and emergency responders. Two people required specialized medical attention, while one of them, 25-year-old Yairi Mateo, died despite resuscitation efforts. Another passenger, a 29-year-old man, was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Nuestra Señora de Regla Provincial Hospital with severe respiratory distress after nearly drowning.
The Navy is continuing its investigation, while the version published by Listín Diario suggests preliminarily that a maneuver to avoid hitting the shore may have caused the capsizing.
Seven accidents, three deaths, and a repeating pattern
| Case | Type of vessel | reported/preliminary factor | People involved | Result |
| Bávaro, September 2025 | Boat | Collision | 2 boats | 1 dead |
| Playa Dorada, October 2025 | Catamaran | Strong waves | Not specified | No victims |
| Samaná, November 2025 | Tourist catamaran | Hull damage/damage | 55 | All rescued |
| Saona, May 2026 | Tourist boat | Diver collision | 1 direct victim | Serious injury/amputation |
| Bahía de las Águilas, June 2026 | Boat | Impact with snorkeling group | Family group | 1 death |
| Saona-Bayahíbe, July 2026 | Tourist boat | Fire/explosion | ~35 on board; 23 affected | 23 injured |
| Punta Salinas, August 2026 | Catamaran | Case under investigation; maneuver hypothesis | 12 | 1 dead, 1 seriously injured |
The chart shows that there is no single cause of accidents. There are navigational problems and collisions; vessel failures or damage; weather conditions; fires; and accidents resulting from interactions between vessels and people engaged in water activities.
But there is one thing they all have in common: they all take place in a maritime space where tourist, recreational and transport activities converge.
The problem isn't just the condition of the ships
The statistics show that after a maritime accident, it is immediately and exclusively attributed to mechanical failure or human error. But analyzing the data reveals that the problem may be much broader.
In Bahía de las Águilas and in front of Saona, for example, the central issue was the interaction between a moving boat and people who were in the water.
In Samaná, however, the risk was related to the integrity of the hull of a boat carrying 55 tourists.
In Bayahibe, the factor being investigated is related to the propulsion and fuel system.
And in Punta Salinas, the investigation will have to determine whether a maneuver, the navigation conditions, the characteristics of the vessel, the passenger load, or other factors contributed to the capsizing.
In other words, talking only about "accidents" can hide different safety situations.
The country has rules for water excursions
Dominican legislation and administrative regulations include controls on water-based tourism activities. The Ministry of Tourism establishes requirements for operating licenses for adventure tourism, maritime transport, and boat trips, with categories based on the number of passengers each vessel can carry.
Furthermore, the official regulations for water excursions stipulate that certain tourist activities in places such as Saona Island, Catalina Island, Cayo Levantado and Gri-Gri Lagoon, must be carried out on vessels regulated by the Ministry of Tourism and with the corresponding identification mechanisms, including the visible QR code of the license.
The National Maritime Affairs Authority (ANAMAR) has indicated that the country is working on a National Maritime Strategy aimed, among other objectives, at strengthening maritime security, an initiative that also arose in the context of observations made after an audit by the International Maritime Organization.
Context also matters
The Dominican Republic is one of the main tourist destinations in the Caribbean and nautical excursions are part of the offering of its main centers: Punta Cana, Bayahibe, La Romana, Samaná, Puerto Plata and Pedernales.
ANAMAR itself identifies nautical tourism as a segment with expansion potential and has promoted initiatives to develop the recreational and sports marina sector.
This means that the number of people exposed to recreational maritime activities may grow, and therefore the problem is not only about investigating what happened to the Don Castro.
The challenge is to determine whether the growth of nautical tourism is accompanied by a proportional growth in inspection, regulation, prevention, signaling and emergency response mechanisms.
What's happening in the Dominican sea?
In twelve months, onecaptain died after being struck by another boat. A catamaran sank off Playa Dorada during a rough sea. Another catamaran, carrying 55 tourists, went down in Samaná Bay after taking on water.
A young man suffered an amputation after being struck by the propellers of a tourist boat off Saona Island. A young woman died in Bahía de las Águilas after being hit while snorkeling.
A tourist boat caught fire off Saona Island, injuring 23 people, and now, in Punta Salinas, a catamaran with 12 people on board capsized, leaving one young woman dead and another passenger in intensive care.
Not all of these events have the same cause or belong to the same type of operation, but together they raise a red flag.
Are the boats that make these excursions being inspected sufficiently?
And also:
• How many tourist boats are currently authorized?
• How many have a valid license?
• How often are they inspected?
• Who verifies their engines, hulls, electrical systems and maximum capacity?
• Are speed checks carried out in snorkeling and diving areas?
• Are there separate maritime corridors for boats and swimmers?
• How many inspectors does the Ministry of Tourism have for these tasks?
• How many inspections did the Navy carry out in the last year?
• How many vessels were sanctioned or removed from circulation?
• How many maritime accident investigations were completed and what were their results?
One fact that deserves attention: the investigations
Another common element in the count is that several authorities announced investigations after the accidents.
That happened in:
• Bávaro;
• Samaná;
• Saona;
• Eagles Bay;
• Bayahibe;
• Punta Salinas.
However, the review of newspaper articles does not reveal in all cases a final public report explaining what the investigation determined, what responsibility was established, or what corrective measures were adopted.
That absence does not necessarily mean that the investigations have not progressed.
This means that their results are not always visible in publicly available information.
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