Tourist abandoned on Great Barrier Reef snorkelling trip

A Cairns reef operator has sacked an employee responsible for a bungled headcount that resulted in a tourist being left behind on a snorkelling trip.

US tourist Ian Cole told The Cairns Post he was panic-stricken when he pulled his head from the water at Michaelmas Cay on Saturday afternoon and saw no sign of the vessel Passions of Paradise anywhere.

Cole estimated the boat left at least 20 minutes before he swam to another vessel owned by the same company, whose employees radioed for Passions of Paradise to come back.

Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators Executive Officer Col McKenzie confirmed the incident, and said it had been reported to Marine Safety Queensland and Workplace Health and Safety.

Cole said he was making his way back to the boat when the incident unfolded. He stated "I lifted my head up and I saw the boat had gone ï¾ it had left me.

"The adrenalin hit in and I had a moment of panic, which was the worst thing I could have done at that point.

"I was able to calm myself just a little bit because there was another boat still out there and I made my way to that vessel.

"Lucky it was there because otherwise I may have drowned, I did not handle the situation well and I was tired."

McKenzie said the tourist was "never at any stage at risk", with a beach and other vessels close by.

The incident occurs at a time when Queensland tourism is stuggling with the effects of the high Aussie dollar and the summer's cyclone and floods.

It had also been assumed that dive and snorkeling tour operators had improved standards since the Tom and Eileen Lonergan tragedy, the American couple left behind on a dive off Port Douglas in January 1998.

Their horrific ordeal was the inspiration for the movie Open Water, which told of their desperate fight for survival after they surfaced to find their boat had left them behind.

The incident tightened the headcount regulations for reef tour operators, but these were evidently overlooked on the Passions of Paradise boat.

It took two days for the Lonergans to be reported missing and their bodies were never found.

It is presumed they drowned or were taken by sharks.

Image used for illustrative purposes only.