Resort Employee Drowns on the Job, Family Calls for Justice

Police are now investigating the drowning death of forty‑one‑year‑old Jason Stamp, an employee of The Placencia Resort in the Stann Creek District, whose body was recovered Wednesday afternoon after he went missing at sea a day earlier. According to reports, Stamp disappeared Tuesday morning while trying to retrieve a cushion that had been blown into the water. His family says they were not informed of his disappearance until hours later, around seven that evening, raising troubling questions about how the situation was handled and prompting calls for a closer look at the circumstances leading up to his death. Today, we spoke with one of Stamp’s close friends, who is speaking out, anonymously, for answers and justice.

 

On the Phone: Friend of Deceased

“On Wednesday, they found him on island  and the kayak on Wednesday when they found him, the kayak was around the tropic air around the airport.”

 

 

 

Britney Gordon

“Okay. And did Jason know how to swim?”

 

On the Phone: Friend of Deceased

“Yes, indeed. But how everybody knows that he knows how to swim. The only thing might must happen, that when he dropped, he knock his head. Family and friends are very disappointed in Placencia Hotel because they didn’t gave no notice to no one until there was one of my closest friend too that called me and told me about the incident whereby so two of us went to Dangriga morgue and we said that it was him.”

 

Britney Gordon

“So there was a lack of communication between when he disappeared, when the family was informal, when he was found.”

 

On the Phone: Friend of Deceased

“Yes. A lot of lack inform information. No information was given to police and no reports were made. Police coast Guard just went to retrieve the body and that’s it. There were like, no, there’s no briefing, no incident, not no statement, nothing. He was  like a brother. He was my family. And that’s why I’m trying to get justice if anything is not made. We, as a group of friends we’re trying to manage to gather her some cash and get an attorney and make sure he gets justice. Because it’s not fair, because of a cushion, he will lose his life.”

 

Friends and family say too many questions remain about how Jason Stamp’s disappearance was handled, and they’re now pushing for answers, and justice, in what they believe should have never happened.