Three foreign tourists have been confirmed dead in a fatal zip-line accident at a tourist attraction in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on Friday. They included a man and two women, whose identification remains unknown, police said, adding that the trio had been using a zip line to cross the Datanla waterfall in the provincial capital of Da Lat in the early afternoon.
Nguyen Van Yen, deputy chairman of the Lam Dong administration, said the nationalities of the deceased tourists have yet to be identified.
Police have managed to retrieve the bodies of two of the victims, and are still searching for the last one. The accident happened at the Datanla tourist area, managed by the Dalat Tourist Co.
But the deceased were taken to the area by another tour operator, Dam Me Co., according to Vo Anh Tan, deputy director of Dalat Tourist. “Dam Me Co. did not buy tickets for using the zip line, so the tourists were not provided with the proper equipment for the adventure game by Dalat Tourist,” Tan underlined.
Tan said the safety equipment used for the game was imported from Europe and is given to all tourists who buy entrance tickets. “Some companies, like Dam Me, have dodged the admission fees and let their guests play the game, which might have led to today’s accident,” he said. “The incident is beyond our supervision, but we are still trying to help deal with this tragedy.”
The Datanla waterfall sits in the middle of the Prenn mountain pass, some 5km from the heart of Da Lat, a romantic resort city.
It is a well-known destination for adventure game lovers.
