Lizette Zambrano sued the company that manages the condominium in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, where her husband, Jorge Guillén, 43, died after being electrocuted in a jacuzzi.
An American tourist died and his wife was hospitalized after they were electrocuted in a Jacuzzi at a Puerto Peñasco, Sonora hotel earlier this week, an incident that prompted the family to sue the resort for wrongful death and negligence, their lawyers said Saturday.
Lizette Zambrano, the 35-year-old woman who was seriously injured, filed the lawsuit seeking $1 million in damages against the U.S.-based resort operators on Friday from her hometown of El Paso, Texas, days after she was pulled from a Jacuzzi in the resort town of Puerto Peñasco, an hour south of the border.
The defendants, vacation rental provider Casago International and travel company High Desert Travel, both based in Arizona, did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, which holds them responsible for faulty electrical wiring in the Jacuzzi that led to the couple’s electrocution and the death of Jorge Guillen, 43.
In addition to failing to warn or alert guests about the risks of the hot tub, resort managers also failed to react quickly enough to the emergency, the lawsuit says.
The tragedy occurred when Zambrano, Guillen, her husband and other family members arrived Tuesday at the Sonoran Sea Resort, a high-rise condominium complex, for their vacation, the lawsuit says. Zambrano and Guillen went into the hot tub to watch the sunset over the ocean.
They were unaware that an electric current was running through the water in the hot tub.
“It’s absolutely terrifying,” Tej Paranjpe, an attorney with the Houston-based law firm PMR law, told The Associated Press on Saturday.
When Guillen put his foot in the hot tub, the current jolted him. He fell against a direct current circuit and was quickly trapped underwater.
Zambrano jumped in to rescue her husband and was also jolted and sucked under by the current, according to the lawsuit. A cellphone video of the incident shows the pool deck in chaos as guests screamed and ran to try to help the couple before realizing the danger of the hot tub water.
Although one guest managed to pull Zambrano out of the water, efforts to extricate Guillen with sticks and various metal tools only resulted in more and more people being shocked, the lawsuit said.
“There was not a single staff member who did anything as Jorge was continuously shocked, over and over, underwater,” Paranjpe said.
It took 10 minutes, Zambrano’s attorneys said, before resort workers responded to vacationers’ cries for help. The manager eventually managed to pull Guillen from the bottom of the hot tub, but it was too late.
Zambrano was flown by helicopter to Phoenix, Arizona, and was released from the hospital on Friday.
The Sonora Prosecutor’s Office reported that investigators were investigating “the origin of the electrical fault” and that they will carry out field visits in the coming days.
Electrocutions in hot tubs due to poor underwater electrical wiring and faulty pumps are rare, but experts warn that vigilance is required to ensure that the equipment is properly maintained.
Between 2002 and 2018, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 47 incidents involving injuries or death in hot tubs, pools and spas in the country.
Source: proceso
