Tourists on honeymoon collide while zip-lining, leaving husband dead and wife injured

An Israeli couple on their honeymoon were involved in a zip-line accident that left one dead in Honduras. Photo / Office of Tourism in Roatan

A newlywed Israeli couple on their honeymoon collided while zip-lining in Honduras, leaving the husband dead and the wife seriously injured, Honduran authorities said.

The wife was zip-lining amid the treetops in Roatan, the largest of Honduras's Bay Islands, when she got stuck, Wilmer Guerrero, commander of the Roatan Fire Department, told the Washington Post.

As she remained halfway down the cable, her husband came gliding down the zip line from behind, slamming into her, Guerrero said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry declined to name the couple, but Honduran news outlets identified the husband as 24-year-old Egael Tishman and the wife as Shif Fanken, 27.

The newlyweds were visiting Roatan as part of a Royal Caribbean Cruises trip on the Allure of the Seas ship, Owen Torres, a spokesman for Royal Caribbean, confirmed.

Two ambulances rushed to the site of the zip line, located in the French Harbour neighbourhood near a highway that stretches to the north side of the island, Guerrero said. Photos in Honduran news outlets show zip-line staff members wearing orange helmets carrying the tourists out of the forested area and into ambulances.

The couple suffered a number of serious injuries, including broken ribs, Guerrero said. Both were still conscious when they arrived at the hospital.

"The young man complained that he could not breathe," Guerrero said. "He was evaluated in the ambulance and was given oxygen."

Guerrero was informed on Saturday that Tishman had died hours earlier.

Guerrero said he had not yet learned the cause of death, but Honduras's Radio America reported that it may have been a brain hemorrhage.

The wife was transported by air to a hospital in the United States, Guerrero said. She underwent surgery and was in stable condition, Guerrero said.

The Israeli Embassy in Guatemala was arranging to fly the husband's body to Israel for burial, the Israeli Foreign Ministry told the Times of Israel.

Honduran authorities have launched an investigation to determine exactly how the accident happened, according to Spanish news agency EFE.