NASSAU, Bahamas – A British toddler died from head injuries sustained when a motorboat ran aground on a beach last week and struck him in the head, officials said Thursday.
Two-year-old Paul Gallagher, of London, was with his parents visiting the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in this Caribbean country when the accident happened on Aug. 15.
The boy died Tuesday night, after spending a week in Nassau’s Doctors Hospital in critical condition, hospital spokeswoman Kayla Rolle said.
Police said the boat’s operator, James Bain, ran the vessel aground on full throttle, hitting the boy in the head. Bain, who was not employed by the resort, was treated for minor injuries.
Bain had come to the resort’s beach pulling his inflated “banana boat,” which he used to give rides to tourists.
This is a serious problem in The Bahamas as they allow boats and jet skis to operate in or near swimming areas with little or no regulation. Many of the operators are ignorant, unskilled and irresponsible. There have been numerous cases of death and injury from these vehicles striking swimmers in the past few years yet Bahamian authorities do nothing to regulate the industry.
Police were treating the death as an accident. However, in many civilized countries the driver of the boat would be charged with manslaughter or negligence.
The parents, who authorities have not identified, requested no information be released about funeral or burial plans for their son, Rolle said.
They were planning to leave the Bahamas this week, tourism ministry spokesman Adrian Archer said.
