The tour guide who led three Britons through the Datanla waterfalls in Vietnam has said he tried to stop them venturing towards the whirlpool that swept them to their deaths.
Sisters Beth Anderson, 24, and Isobel Mackensie Squire, 19, died along with their friend Christian Sloan, 25 at the popular beauty spot in the country’s central highlands on Friday.
Dang Van Sy, 26, told police the tourists ignored him when they headed towards the dangerous area of the falls, according to local media.
He said he had asked them to wear lifejackets and crash helmets, and placed all of their personal belongings in his waterproof bag. They had taken part in a common activity of lying down in the stream and letting the water move them downwards before reaching an area close to the whirlpool.
“I know that place is dangerous so I shouted to ask them to stay away from that,” Sy told police, according to Tuoi Tre News. “But they ignored me, jumping down to the stream, still with their life vests. Then the man walked back to the women behind him, but he slipped into the whirlpool and was immediately swept away, down to the waterfall.”
Sy said he shouted to the female tourists to stand up and try to withstand the water flow. “But a moment later, the women too were swept away,” he said. “I did not dare to jump [in] to save them as I would also be killed in the same manner.”
Alan McGlashan, the father of James McGlashan, from Deal in Kent, who was with the group but did not join them on the waterfall excursion because he felt unwell, said on Sunday he was flying to Vietnam to bring home his son and the body of his friend.
He said: “I keep hoping I will wake up and find it is some horrible sick dream … I know Jim won’t be leaving Vietnam until we know Sloany is in the air and on his way home. Eugene [Christian Sloan’s father] and his mum are on standby meet him wherever he flies home to here.”
The group were using a cut-price unauthorised tour operator, according to Vo Anh Tan, deputy director of the Lam Dong tourist company, which manages the Datanla falls. He said the unauthorised tour operator did not pay for entrance tickets or use the company’s safety equipment.
Sloan had been travelling with McGlashan across south-east Asia, also visiting Thailand and Laos. On Saturday he responded to condolences posted on his Facebook page saying: “All the messages are overwhelming thank you, they really do make me feel less alone over here.”
The sisters, from the Ecclesall area of Sheffield, were almost seven weeks into a tour of south-east Asia. In a statement their family described them as “shining lights” and said: “Sisters Beth and Izzy were living a life of adventure and did so right to the end.”
A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We are providing support to the families of three British nationals following their deaths near Dalat, Vietnam. Our sympathies are with their families and friends at this difficult time. We are in close contact with local authorities in Vietnam on their behalf.”
