US man dies in boating accident in Costa Rica, marking third deadly incident this month

A U.S. man died in a boating accident Thursday afternoon off Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, according to the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ). He’s the third foreigner to die in boating accidents here in less than two weeks.

Thomas Russell Tomlinson, a 68-year-old U.S. citizen and Costa Rican resident, died from injures sustained when the boat he was traveling in collided with another boat near the Caribbean town of Parismina around 4 p.m., according to OIJ spokeswoman Paula Madrigal. The person driving the boat, Henry Smith, was taken to a nearby clinic and eventually to Calderón Guardia Hospital in San José where he was in stable condition Friday. OIJ did not release Smith’s nationality.

Authorities were unable to locate the other boat involved when The Tico Times spoke with OIJ. The crash is being considered an accident but police are investigating, Madrigal said.

This is the second boating collision in the waters near Tortuguero this week and the third boating-related death in Costa Rica in just over a week.

On Saturday 58-year-old Benita Smith, a Nicaraguan citizen, died after the water taxi she was traveling in collided with a tourist boat. And last week, 30-year-old U.S. citizen Won Ah died during a fishing trip off Playa Herradura when he became entangled in the engine propellers. It was his 30th birthday.