Vietnam suspends adventure tours at waterfall after tourist’s death

By Nguyen Quy   September 23, 2018 | 08:27 pm PT
Vietnam suspends adventure tours at waterfall after tourist’s death
Tourists rappel down a cliff at the Datanla Waterfalls in Da Lat. Photo by VnExpress/Xuan Loc
Lam Dong Province has decided to suspend adventure tours and services at the Datanla Waterfalls.

The suspension followed the death of a young South Korean man at the waterfall last Saturday.

Nguyen Thi Nguyen, director of the Central Highlands province's tourism department, said Sunday that the Datanla Waterfalls management has been told to suspend jumps and other adventure activities at the waterfall, the Thanh Nien (Youth) newspaper reported.

Datanla, which is around five kilometers from downtown Da Lat, is a popular destination for adventure seekers in the resort city.

Jang Won Seok, 23, died on Saturday afternoon after he jumped off a waterfall there, from a height of around nine meters. The accident is being investigated.

Nguyen said tourism authorities will inspect operational processes and safety level of adventure tours at the waterfall.

Safety has become a matter of concern around Da Lat's waterfalls of late, with several accidents injuring or killing visitors in recent years.

Last year, a Polish tourist and a Vietnamese tour guide fell to their deaths while climbing down a waterfall in Da Lat. A local travel firm was later fined VND100 million ($4,380) for organizing the unlicensed tour in which the fatal accident took place.

In 2016, three British tourists died while climbing the Datanla waterfalls with an unauthorized tour guide.

Da Lat welcomed around 3.38 million tourists in the first half of this year, including 245,000 foreigners, up 20 percent from a year ago.

 
 
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