On April 28, 25-year-old Lauren Failla was snorkeling in the crystalline waters near Radhanagar Beach on Havelock Island, one of India's Andaman Islands. She and her boyfriend had decided to take a spur-of-the-moment vacation to the tropical paradise.
Suddenly, as Failla's boyfriend watched from shore, a massive saltwater crocodile surfaced and closed its jaws upon her, dragging her down beneath the surface. Her body was discovered two days later.
For her parents, Frank and Kay Failla of Morristown, the loss was compounded by the fact that it came four years after Lauren's older sister, Emily, was killed at age 24 when she fell 500 feet in a rock-climbing accident in Washington state.
"I'm angry, raging at the universe, that such a thing could not only happen, but that it could happen twice to one family," Anne Yardley, a family friend, told The Star Ledger.
Failla's extended family is demanding to know why tourists are not warned that Havelock Island's beaches lie just 45 miles from a crocodile sanctuary. The world's largest reptile, the saltwater crocodile is known to swim great distances in the open water, and the network of islands that make up the Andamans provides several possible resting places for any wayward swimmer.
According to Indian government statistics, there have been 24 crocodile attacks on humans in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands over the past 25 years, including four fatalities.
"How can this be a safe tourist destination?" Bernice Cook, Failla's aunt, wrote to Andaman Sheekha, an English-language newspaper in the Andamans. "Where are the signs alerting people to the potential dangers? A crocodile sanctuary and tourist destination cannot co-exist. This behavior is inexcusable and irresponsible on the part of the government."
The sanctuary near where Failla died, the Lohabarrack Salt Water Crocodile Sanctuary, was established by the Indian government in 1987, after the species was hunted to near-extinction by poachers. Prized for their multicolored skins, the crocodiles -- which remain an endangered species -- have made a modest comeback since that time.
Failla had recently earned her master's degree from Sotheby's Art Institute in London. Both she and her sister had graduated from Vanderbilt University.
"Such an unnecessary death. If there had been proper warnings and statements that there are in fact man-eating crocodiles nearby, I am sure Lauren would not have risked swimming," Gloria McLean Hiratsuka, Failla's cousin, told the Daily Record. "She thought she was safe. Her father made a point of saying she was not a big risk-taker, always a little reserved, all the more since her sister's untimely death four years ago.
"To me, this is such a big wake-up call to our romantic notions about nature," Hiratsuka said. "Nature gives and she takes away -- rather indifferently. It is human beings that must protect other human beings. "
A memorial is planned for Saturday at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Morristown, where Lauren Failla used to sing in the choir.
VIA
I would think that when traveling to a destination like this you would ask questions. Tourists sometimes take risks and then ask questions.
ReplyDeleteAgain, putting the blame somewhere else. Suddenly it becomes the fault of the island when it isn't. Maybe a little more knowledge of the area before the vacationers left would have been smart.