Vacation tragedies spur push for law requiring websites to provide info on safety
Nancy Midlock, 56, of southwest suburban Shorewood, gets teary recalling a gut-wrenching day and night on the Riviera Maya south of Cancun.
It was 2003 and her 8-year-old son, Brent, had disappeared while on a family vacation.
He was discovered dead and mangled after being sucked into a pool drain pipe.
A trip to Mexico can go from heaven to horrendous in a moment, grieving parents of vacationers say.
Last week, Midlock was among those lobbying in Washington who have lost children in vacation accidents. They urged Congress to pass a bill that would let those traveling internationally know dangers that may await and what medical care is available.
Midlock said she found herself staring into the barrel of an AK-47 (“I had never seen a gun before”) as security staffers held her back while the pool was searched. “I was screaming, ‘Brent!’ ”
A memorial website — brentmidlock.com — describes Brent as “a playful, energetic, happy, athletic boy who had lots of friends,” a kid who “encouraged the underdog.”
His dream was to play football for Joliet Catholic Academy and to attend college at Notre Dame. He wanted to be an anesthesiologist.
The family went to Mexico on vacation as an Easter present. In the late morning of April 26, 2003 — just a month past his ninth birthday — he was sucked into an uncovered 111/2 inch pool drainpipe at a Playa del Carmen resort, she says. He disappeared inside the pool as the family frantically searched for him.
“Suffering the daily nightmare of living without Brent can only be described as a living hell. It is a journey that none of us can possibly imagine,” the family writes on the website.
The Midlocks say the hotel did not disclose the existance of the pipe for hours and refused to pay for the cost of his funeral.
They are supporting the International Travelers Bill of Rights Act, introduced by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) It would require travel-booking websites to provide information including U.S. travel advisories and warnings and whether a resort has a doctor, defibrillator, staff trained in CPR or lifeguards.
“Information about a destination’s safety is the most important item to pack,” Markey said. Though the State Department has travel tips at state.gov, most travel vendors don’t emphasize negative information.
Maureen Webster’s son died in Cancun in 2007 after being pulled from a pool. Webster, 51, of Woburn, Mass., says the death was the result of unpreparedness, slow response and medical personnel who refused to intubate him. She said a trauma nurse who was a hotel guest was held back from helping her son, Nolan.
She started mexicovacationawareness.com, which details the death of her son and others, links to State Department stats on non-natural U.S. deaths in Mexico and solicits incident reports. Some deaths occur because of lower hotel balcony railings and fewer defibrillators in Mexico, she says.
The tour operator who booked the trip for Nolan and his girlfriend never said a word about dangers, Webster says, choking up. She now regrets she told her son: “ ‘Go to Mexico — it’s fun.’
“You think when you’re inside the resort it’s safe,” she says. “You need to know.”
Gannett News Service
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