There are no regulations in place to ensure that jet-ski operators in the Bahamas must know how to swim, The Tribune has learned.
Nor are operators officially required to wear life vests, Jet-Ski Association president Zeke Minnis said.
Mr. Minnis said however, that all jet-ski operators know that they are ‘supposed’ to wear life vests, and are well aware that it would be suicide not to know how to swim in their line of work.
The Tribune questioned Mr. Minnis about water sports regulations yesterday after media reports on Monday suggested that drowned jet-ski operator Valentino Thompson, who disappeeared on Friday and whose body was found on Paradise Island on Sunday, could not swim.
Mr. Minnis told The Tribune that while all operators know they should wear life vests at all times, there is no legislation in place stating that such precautions are mandatory.
Source: Paco Nunez, The Tribune
