ABC News: An American tourist who was left behind while snorkeling on Queensland's Great Barrier Reef says he wants assurances safety procedures will be improved.Ian Cole was on a day trip with tour company Passions of Paradise on Saturday when the tour boat left Michelmas Cay, off Cairns, without him. He was rescued after swimming to another boat in the area.
Mr. Cole says an inexperienced backpacker was responsible for ensuring all passengers were on board. He has called for safety procedures to be improved.
"I mean, the guy lost his job as a result of it, and obviously he takes the brunt of the blame, but he was put in a system that allowed him to make that mistake," he said. "So obviously the system needs to be changed that could prevent an oversight such as that."
Col McKenzie from the Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators, says the tourist was not in danger. "There were three other boats in the region," he said. "He [swam] across to another boat and that boat then called the first boat and they came back and picked him up," he said.
"It's a really unfortunate event, but the thing that we can pick up from it is: first, the person was in no danger; and, [the] second point is the boat has excellent procedures in place.
"The tourist, without even asking, was refunded the money from the trip. He's also been given a letter of apology. He's also been given a voucher to use at one of our better restaurants to say 'Look, sorry for that'.
"But, remember too that this tourist was never in any danger. He was left beside a beach."
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland is investigating the incident.
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