Experts stress importance of travel insurance after Ontario man dies while on vacation in the Caribbean
CTV
Reema Shrivastava remembers her father Subhash Parekh as an amazing person, who loved to swim, dance, and was the life of the party.
Reema Shrivastava remembers her father Subhash Parekh as an amazing person, who loved to swim, dance, and was the life of the party.
Sadly, the retired pharmacist from Sarnia, Ont. died tragically in December 2023 while on vacation in the Dominican Republic.
Subhash and his wife of 41 years, Bina, boarded an Air Transat flight from London, Ont. to the Dominic Republic for what was supposed to be a trip to celebrate their retirement.
On Boxing Day, the couple booked a sightseeing excursion that included a visit to nearby Macao Beach. While swimming in the clear blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, Subhash suffered a heart attack.
Shrivastava said her father’s body was dragged to shore, where a Canadian couple tried to perform CPR on him for nearly 30 minutes, but sadly he did not survive.
Shrivastava said her 70-year-old father’s body laid on the beach for nearly three hours before emergency personnel arrived. She said the excursion company did not have an AED on board, and the staff was not trained to perform CPR.
The experience has left Subhash’s wife Bina heartbroken and traumatized. Shrivastava said her mother was left feeling hopeless and isolated having to navigate the aftermath of her husband’s death in a foreign country.
