SANTO DOMINGO.– More than 12 hours have passed since an explosion turned a catamaran with about 35 people on board into a fireball off Saona Island on Monday afternoon, and the company operating the vessel remains silent.
Not a single statement, not a word to the media, not a word about the 23 people who were injured, many with burns who are still being treated at the Central Romana Medical Center and the Canela I Hospital, has come from the company that owns and/or operates the ship.
The emptiness contrasts with the speed of the official response: the Emergency Operations Center (COE), the Directorate of Out-of-Hospital Emergency Services (DAEH), the Dominican Republic Navy and the Tourist Police (Politur) activated their protocols within minutes of the explosion, coordinating the rescue and transfer of those affected.
It is premature to draw conclusions about the causes of the accident, as the authorities are only just beginning to gather evidence, but the company's silence raises a first question that the case must answer: who will take the public voice in front of the passengers, their families and the tourism sector of Bayahibe.
According to reports from the Bayahibe Fire Department, the vessel, with approximately 35 people on board, including passengers and crew, exploded around 4:30 p.m. yesterday, Monday, as it was returning from an excursion to Saona Island, in front of Playa Viva, in the El Abanico sector.
The occupants were initially rescued by other vessels in the area, before emergency services arrived.
The director of the DAEH, Juan Manuel Méndez, together with the COE, arranged for the transfer of a regional medical team to the site to coordinate rescue efforts and the distribution of the injured among the available health centers.
In total, 23 people were injured: 16 were admitted to the Central Romana Medical Center and 7 to the Canela I Hospital, both in La Romana. Authorities have not yet specified how many of the injured are foreign tourists or the nationalities of the passengers on board.
Authorities have indicated that the case remains under investigation and that both the number of injured and the details of the incident could change as official verifications progress.
