Two people electrocuted at Marino Rivera's Panama home

[Dante]

October 10, 2004

PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) -- Two relatives of Mariano Rivera's wife were electrocuted while cleaning the pool at the home of the New York Yankees closer.

Victor Dario Avila, a cousin of Rivera's wife, Clara, and his 14-year-old son were killed Saturday, Rivera's cousin, Irma Rivera, told The Associated Press.

The teenager, also named Victor Dario Avila, apparently touched an electrical wire while cleaning the pool in Puerto Caimito, 40 miles east of Panama City. His father died trying to save him, Irma Rivera said.

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Yankees spokesman Ben Tuliebitz said Sunday he didn't know whether Rivera planned to return to Panama -- manager Joe Torre was expected to address the matter during Monday's workout at Yankee Stadium. New York opens the AL championship series at home Tuesday night against the rival Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees advanced by beating Minnesota 6-5 in 11 innings Saturday, with Rivera getting the win.

Avila was a fishermen who also cleaned and maintained Rivera's home. Clara Rivera was traveling to Panama following the accident, family members said.

``Everyone is sad,'' Irma Rivera said. ``Victor was a good man.''

 

[Doug]

Bet Pan-am is responsible ! It's the " Panama curse". I thought Rivera was from DR.

 

[Glaken]

Doug,

Both ESPN and MLB.com say that Rivera was born in Panama City, Panama in November 1969....Anyway

Are there anymore details om what actually happened? I don't have a pool now but when I did there was no electricity anywhere around the pool.

 

[Doug]

Doug,

Both ESPN and MLB.com say that Rivera was born in Panama City, Panama in November 1969....Anyway

Are there anymore details om what actually happened? I don't have a pool now but when I did there was no electricity anywhere around the pool.

I'll believe Rivera as Panamian, no problem with that.

Pools have lighting ( I'm assuming in -ground) filters, etc. I can see electricity around the pool, and below UL standards in a 3rd world country.

What happenned will be revealed , in time.

 

[wilheim]

PUERTO CAIMITO, Panama (AP) Mariano Rivera flew home to comfort relatives Monday after two family members were electrocuted in his pool, but plans to be back in New York when the Yankees open their playoff series with the Boston Red Sox.



''I have to comply with my family obligations, and I will return to New York on Tuesday,'' he told the newspaper La Prensa upon arriving in Panama late Sunday.

Rivera's agent, Fernando Cuza, told the AP in an e-mail Monday the pitcher ''should be back in time'' for Game 1 of the AL championship series on Tuesday night. The team arranged for a private plane to bring him back.

''It's possible he'll be here for tomorrow night. We're not going to expect it,'' Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said in New York. ''He intends to try to be here for tomorrow's game. ... When he left, we just told him take the time you need, as long as it takes, what's happening here is secondary to that.''

Yankees manager Joe Torre and Cashman said they thought the funeral will take place Tuesday and said Rivera told the team he would be back in time for the game at night.

''If he's here tomorrow, obviously it would be wonderful,'' Torre said.

Rivera learned of the deaths while celebrating with his teammates in the clubhouse after the Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 6-5 on Saturday to reach the AL championship series, with Rivera getting the win.

Victor Dario Avila, a cousin of Rivera's wife, Clara, was electrocuted Saturday when he tried to rescue his 14-year-old son also named Victor while cleaning the pool at the pitcher's home in this fishing town 40 miles west of Panama City, officials said.

The chief of the local fire department, Luis Felipe Caceres, said the initial investigation indicates that something with an electrical current was ''located in the pool or was making contact with the edge of the pool.'' He said officials were still investigating.

Caceres said the only witness was Denis Ballestero, brother-in-law of Rivera's wife. Ballestero, who also suffered shocks, was released from a hospital and has declined to speak with reporters.

On Monday, a tarp had been raised in front of the Avila family's small zinc-roofed, concrete-walled house, and townsfolk said an Evangelical religious service was planned for the afternoon.

The house is next door to Rivera's mansion. No one answered the door in the more than 7-foot wall surrounding the property.

Eight children, some barefoot, played baseball on a basketball court nearby, using the basket stands as bases. A heavy downpour soon drove them away. Many of the men from the town of 3,500 were at sea, fishing for shrimp.

Rivera's father was a fishermen, as was Avila, who also cleaned and maintained Rivera's home.

''There's great pain in Puerto Caimito because Victor was a very well-liked person in town,'' said a neighbor, Arnulfo Vega, 52, also a fisherman.

He said the younger Avila had come to ask his own son over to the pool on Saturday morning, but Vega's son was away. Police said they were still investigating how a live electrical current came to be so close to the pool.

Rivera has been a key to the Yankees' four World Series titles and six AL pennants since 1996, succeeding on 30 of 33 save chances. Against Boston in Game 7 of last year's ALCS, Rivera pitched three scoreless innings in his longest appearance since Sept. 6, 1996. He won the series MVP award.

Rivera's neighbor, Vega, said he hopes the fisherman's son will have similar success this year.

''God doesn't want this to affect Mariano,'' Vega said, ''because he is going to have a very tough series against Boston.''

Torre considers Rivera so dependable that New York fans often count the game as a win as soon as they hear ''Enter Sandman,'' the Metallica song played at Yankee Stadium when Rivera jogs from the bullpen to the mound.

While the acquisition of Tom Gordon enabled Torre to lessen Rivera's eighth-inning appearances and helped the closer save a career-high 53 games this year, the Yankees regard Rivera as irreplaceable, a reason the team agreed in March to a $21 million, two-year contract extension through 2006.

''If he's not here tomorrow, and we're in position to save the game, it will be Tom Gordon,'' Torre said.

</WIRE_BODY>

 

[Doug]

People drown in pools often. They aren't ordinarily electrocouted. That seems unusual, to me.

I think something was very wrong with the wiriing in this case. M Rivera may feel some blame here.

A simple drowning... OK. This electrocution raises doubts, it's abnormal !

There is more to this story !

People drown, but don't die in this fashion in USA.

 

[wilheim]

This tragic incident happened in a poor fishing village in Panama, for anyone who has spent any time at all in a place like Puerto Caimito it is not that surprizing. In the US yes very rare, in Latin American rural areas unfortunatley not so rare. Many places have no building codes or safety precautions that offer people protection from electricity.


wil.

 

[Doug]

This tragic incident happened in a poor fishing village in Panama, for anyone who has spent any time at all in a place like Puerto Caimito it is not that surprizing. In the US yes very rare, in Latin American rural areas unfortunatley not so rare. Many places have no building codes or safety precautions that offer people protection from electricity.


wil.

Wil: therefore M. Rivera may be at some degree of fault, by not up-grading to higher standards ? Perhaps a little guilt lingers ?

He could have up-graded to higher standards ?

He may feel some guilt here, perhaps not himself ? If I was MR, I'd be less than 100% OF MYSELF. I'd be a little off, anyway.