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Tourist sues Royal Caribbean over husband’s deadly zip line accident

An Israeli tourist is suing Royal Caribbean Cruises for more than $1 million following a mid-air zip lining accident that killed her husband during their honeymoon cruise.

Shir Frenkel, 27, of Herzliya, Israel and her husband, 24-year-old Igal Tyszman, were on board the Allure of the Seas cruise ship in July when they booked the Extreme Caribe Zip Line Tour at the ship’s excursion desk, NBC Miami reported.

While on the zip line, the couple collided in midair — killing Tyszman and leaving Frenkel with fractured ribs as well as spleen and lung damage, according to the federal lawsuit filed last month and obtained by the Daily Business Review.

During the third and longest leg of the zip line excursion, a guide told the couple to lie back in a plank position to keep their momentum going, Frenkel’s lawyer, Debi Chalik of Chalik & Chalik Law Offices in Plantation, Fla., told the outlet.

But on their previous rides, they sat up straight — as instructed in a safety briefing, Chalik added.

“Shir goes first ahead of her husband, through the jungle, and now you don’t see her,” she said. “All of a sudden, she completely comes to a halt and starts coming backwards, toward the initial platform that she took off from.”

Meanwhile, the guide sent Frenkel down the zip line, Chalik said.

“He’s in that plank position going backwards, so he’s not seeing anything,” Chalik said. “He’s flying at a very quick rate of speed and literally crashes head-on into his wife.”

The couple dealt exclusively with Royal Caribbean to book the adventure — and had no idea that an independent Honduran contractor operated it, according to the suit. So Frenkel only named the cruise line in the suit.

A Royal Caribbean spokesman declined to comment to the Daily Business Review, and its lawyer, Jonathan Drucker of Trescott & Drucker in Coral Gables, did not immediately respond to the outlet.

The Miami-based cruise line hasn’t yet filed an answer to the complaint, according to the report.