(NEW YORK) — It was supposed to be paradise for Texas couple Lizette Zambrano and her husband Jorge but little did she know it would become hell — ending in her coming home full of grief and without the love of her life
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Lizette Zambrano has spoken out for the first time about the tragedy that happened at the Mexican resort town of Puerto Peñasco when they were both electrocuted, killing Jorge and seriously injuring Lizette.
“I feel that this could have been prevented,” Lizette Zambrano said tearfully. “I still can’t believe it. A very good man was taken away.”
Zambrano is now suing the resort for wrongful death due to what she alleges was faulty wiring sending a live current into the water.
I want somebody to take accountability for what happened to my husband and myself,” Zambrano said in the interview on Good Morning America on Friday morning. “The last thing I remember him saying is Oh s—. And it’s the same time that I felt the first electric shock and then it happened over and over and over and I didn’t hear him again.”
The suit alleges that bystanders attempts to rescue the couple were hampered, stating “the metal from the objects carried the electrical current and began shocking the rescuers.”
“A lot of people jumped in, but they kept jumping out because the shocks were so strong,” Zambrano said.
Lizette Zambrano said she was pulled out of the hot tub with no pulse but was given CPR and medically evacuated to a hospital where she eventually regained consciousness.
Her lawsuit seeks $1 million in damages from Casago, the facilitator of the vacation rental, claiming “Jorge was being electrocuted and drowned under water for 10 minutes” and at no time prior to this did the defendants seek to engage the emergency shut off for the jacuzzi.
Meanwhile, Casago has denied all responsibility, saying in a statement in part that “the Sonoran Sea is a condo resort and the homeowners association is responsible for all common areas, including the maintenance of the swimming pool, hot tubs, and grounds. Casago, a vacation rental company, is not involved in any management or maintenance of the resort.”
“What policies, policies and procedures do they have in place? And what’s the point of those policies and procedures if they’re not doing anything to enact them,” Zambrano’s lawyer questioned.
ABC News has asked the homeowner’s association for comment but has not heard back.
While electric shock is rare, experts say if you think you are being shocked while in the water, move away from the source and try to get out of the water immediately but without touching metal railings or ladders which may increase the shock.
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