Bodies of Canadian family to be sent back from Antigua and Barbuda

The Government of Antigua and Barbuda expressed its sadness due to the passing of a 37-year-old Canadian woman and her 5-year-old son passed away on Thursday. The incident occurred at the Devil’s Bridge where the family had gone to watch the sunrise when they drowned accidentally.

The 38-year-old husband was revived through cardiopulmonary resuscitation after he went into distress. He made a valiant attempt to save his wife and son but could not manage to do so. Sadly, they were declared dead at the scene.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne was preoccupied by the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), yet managed to get wind of the incident and released a statement on the matter from Dubai. He made it plain that the Government of Antigua and Barbuda was deeply saddened by the incident and extends its complete support to the family in every way possible.

“But it is a very very tragic situation…and I want to express our sincere sympathy to the family. I feel it as though it was a relative. It is so impactful” he added.

The process of sending the bodies back to Canada will be expedited and every convenience will be afforded to the bereaved. Tourism Minister Charles ‘Max’ Fernandez added that he will see to the matter at a personal level.

He also had the opportunity to converse with the husband “and could only imagine what he is going through” and “we are now in the process of seeing what we can do to bring the family home and get him and the bodies back home as quickly as possible.”

Charles Fernandez also said that he was aware of the fact that this was the second such incident to occur at the Devil’s Bridge this year. He added that steps will be taken to ensure the safety of tourists who visit the Devil’s Bridge from this point on.

“We need to get somebody, again to look at it in a professional capacity. We are not just concerned that tourists could be affected we have a lot of our people who also visit …and so we have to see if anything else can be done to prevent this kind of thing happening.

“From my understanding it is a situation where (the family) went very very close on the rocks to the edge and I think it made it all the more dangerous. Having said that we are still going to review the entire thing to see what we can do to ensure that …people are protected.”

“So from what I was told, it’s not official, but the joggers were the ones that rescued him” he added.

The Devil’s bridge has an interesting history and got the name because the rocks used to look like a bridge before part of the structure fell into the sea. The bridge was famous for being a jumping point for slaves who wished to commit suicide, believing that a plunge from the bridge would allow them to come back as free men.