Heroism in Tour Boat Tragedy Saved Lives

A California great-grandmother on a cruise with her daughter was among the three victims of a tour boat accident off Cabo San Lucas in Baja California in which good Samaritans risked their lives to pull survivors from the crashing surf.

Dorothea Pahrman, 77, of Sonora, Calif., was killed Friday when a glass-bottom boat carrying 17 passengers flipped over in the rising tide just off the beach near where the Sea of Cortes meets the wind-tossed Pacific Ocean. Her name and age were given incorrectly earlier by the Red Cross.

Pahrman’s daughter, Charlotte Dean, 46, also of Tuolumne County, narrowly escaped drowning.

In an interview Monday, she recalled how she and two other passengers--a woman and a little girl--were trapped in an air pocket under the glass bottom of the capsized boat after it slammed into rocks.

With deep water on all sides, they could see daylight through the glass but could find no way out, she said. They held on as best they could, imprisoned beneath the inverted hull, as strong waves swept in and out, rocking the boat and inexorably filling the small chamber with water.

“The little girl was holding on to my head and neck,” Dean said. “I remember saying to her, ‘I think we are going to meet Jesus today. I think today is our day.’ ”

All three ultimately survived, thanks in part to the heroic efforts of people who helped survivors get to shore and back to the harbor under chaotic conditions.

Among these good Samaritans were uninjured survivors who remained in the treacherous waters to help fellow passengers. Other rescuers were Mexican mariners from the harbor, the captain of Carnival Cruise Line’s Elation and tourists from the nearby beach.

After making it to shore, however, Dean was unable to locate her mother, and Pahrman’s body was recovered later.

Two other people also died. Authorities identified them as Pauline Armijo, 54, and Elizabeth Stevens, 63. The Red Cross said Stevens is from Alaska and Armijo is from New Mexico.

After the incident, Mexican authorities arrested the tour boat’s captain, Pedro Arias Elenis, on suspicion of manslaughter.

Although Arias was credited with bringing some survivors out of the water, a U.S. Coast Guard official said “he made many mistakes” by steering the heavily burdened boat into such rough waters.

Mexican port officials said Monday that Arias has been released to house arrest as the investigation continues. A determination of the charges against him may be made as soon as today.

In addition to the police investigation, a tribunal of sea captains is reviewing Arias’ actions to determine if he violated maritime laws, said Manuel Martinez, captain of the marina in Cabo San Lucas.

Among the questions authorities are trying to answer is why the victims were not wearing life jackets, which are recommended for all passengers on boats in the harbor.

Martinez said there were 18 life jackets aboard the crowded launch, but only five people were wearing them, including a 3-year-old. Coast Guard Lt. Joe McAndrews contradicted the report, saying passengers his agency interviewed could remember no one on the 23-foot boat wearing a life jacket.

The accident occurred Friday morning after the San Pedro-based Elation arrived from Mazatlan.

Passengers were given shore leave and disembarked for sightseeing. Many headed to the pier, where operators of glass-bottom boats offer rides to the cape. The ill-fated boat was headed to El Arco, an arch-shaped rock formation and a popular tourist spot called Lovers’ Beach.

Dean said she and her mother had planned the Elation cruise as a mother-daughter getaway, the first trip in many years for Pahrman.

When they boarded the boat, the harbor was calm, she said. But as the boat approached Lovers’ Beach, the captain drew near to the rocks, she said, and it hit one with a crash and was instantly swamped. Dean said she lost sight of her mother and found herself trapped underneath the capsized vessel.

Rocked by waves and with the water rising, Dean said she was sure that she and her companions would drown.

But instead, the waves pushed the boat toward the beach, and Dean suddenly--miraculously--felt sand under her feet. The boat came to a halt, and Dean said she was able to escape through a compartment near the motor, pulling the little girl out too.

The other woman inside couldn’t make it out. Dean described onlookers scrambling desperately to find rocks to break the glass, a difficult task since the beach is sandy, not rocky. Someone finally was able to smash the see-through bottom of the boat to rescue the woman, she said.

Dean said the previous night aboard the Elation she and her mom “had a beautiful dinner [and] it was the best sunset ever. We sat and watched, and we took funny, silly pictures. . . . She went out happy. She had a ball on that ship.”

Pahrman, whose husband died in 1982, also is survived by two sons, Richard and Robert; eight grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.