St. John’s, Antigua: German visitor and sailor, Hans “Wolfgang” Gobel, died after falling head first into the water behind the Catamaran Hotel and Marina in Falmouth Harbour about 10:45hrs yesterday morning, the Antigua Observer reported.
Juan Michael, a sailor who met Gobel on Tuesday, said the 64-year-old sailor appeared healthy and happy right up to the minute before the tragedy unfolded.
“We were coming in on our boat Asahi when he signalled to us and offered to help tie our boat to the post. The rope was already knotted so he just had to throw the loop over the post. But as soon as he did that he fell in,” Michael said.
The Observer report said that having observed no movement from the sailor, Michael said he and his sailing mate J Romeo Kuhnl and several sailors rushed to help the deceased.
“More than one of us jumped in and he was pulled out and onto a dinghy which took him onto the shore. Some rescue guys came to help but they couldn’t wake him up,” Kuhnl recounted.
Members of the Antigua & Barbuda Search & Rescue (ABSAR) unit tried for nearly half an hour to resuscitate the sailor by administering CPR. Witnesses said Gobel became paler by the minute and was rushed to Mount St John’s Medical Centre where he was pronounced dead at 11:50hrs, the Observer reported.
Officials at the Catamaran Marina Office declined to comment. The police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident. The body was removed from the hospital to Barnes Funeral Home and officers from the Criminal Investigations Department are following usual procedures in the probe. A post-mortem will be conducted locally to determine the cause of death, the Observer said.
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