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Topics: World News, Community, Health
Faima Bakar
A family holiday to Turkey turned catastrophic after a grandad died while on a luxury boat excursion, with staff members accused of covering his body with a towel before continuing a foam party with other guests.
Peter Colville, 60, was holidaying in Alanya in July with a group of ten family members, including his children and grandchildren, before tragedy struck.
They all set sail on a £200 'luxury pirate ship' boat trip with a packed itinerary of entertainment, DJs, snorkelling and a foam party, alongside approximately 600 other holidaymakers.
But on the second swim stop by Cleopatra Beach, property maintenance boss Peter disappeared. Moments later, swimmers say they found Peter face-up, unconscious in the water, and dragged him on deck, before they desperately began administering CPR.
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His daughter, Nakita Colville, 27, who witnessed the horrific ordeal, alleged that 'unbothered and clueless' staff on board the boat 'just stood there watching'.
Nakita, an admin assistant from Woking, Surrey, also claimed the barman declared Peter dead before staff covered his body and face with a towel.
When the coastguard arrived, Peter was taken to hospital, where he was tragically confirmed dead.
And while the family were taken off the boat, they claim the party continued, with crew allegedly going ahead with hosting a foam party for the remaining passengers.
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Nakita said: "When my brother-in-law came back out the sea after swimming, he turned around when he realised my dad was no longer behind him.
"Then we heard people yelling for help and saw my dad in the water, face up, with people trying to get him out.
"One of the other guests began giving CPR while the crew members just stood there with their arms crossed. Other guests were screaming and crying, my family was hysterical."
Nakita added: "We were living the worst moments of our lives, but as soon as we were taken off, the crew just apologised to guests because the foam party was delayed, I've been told.
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"My dad was the loveliest dad and grandad and he deserved to be treated with respect - and he wasn't.
"We can't say it was the company's fault that he died, but maybe he could've been saved - and how it was dealt with was awful."
Nakita, her daughter, parents, two sisters and their families flew to Alanya on 20 July, and the family are struggling to deal with what happened.
Nakita said: "My sister and I were just holding my dad's hand, screaming.
"As far as we knew, or he knew, he was healthy - we have no idea what happened.
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"He was smart - if he had been, or felt, unwell, he wouldn't have got in the water."
Nakita thinks the boat was carrying more than 600 guests, but the company's Tripadvisor page claims the boat has a capacity of 1,200.
According to UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency advice, all ships should undertake a risk assessment, but 'as a general guide, vessels in regular operation carrying in excess of 100 persons' should carry a defib.
Postmortems were conducted in Turkey and the UK.
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Nakita said neither could find a cause of death, so investigations are ongoing.
The company did not respond to a request for comment when contacted.