Plans to take the Island Adventures “tropical forest hike and beach excursion” ended horribly, when a bus carrying 20 tourists veered out of control into a rocky embankment and flipped sideways at the intersection leading to Cane Garden Bay and Carrot Bay on Windy Hill.

Mr. Rumphrey, who has been described by officials as a “special needs individual,” was pronounced dead at Peebles Hospital shortly after the accident.

His mother, who had been visiting the territory from Honeoye, New York, with her husband — Mr. Rumphrey’s stepfather — was then left with the heart-wrenching tasks associated with dealing with a deceased loved one.

Acting quickly, BVI Tourist Board officials comforted Mr. Rumphrey’s mother, assuring her that she was in good hands, even in a place far from home.

In a Tuesday press conference, acting BVITB Director Haddassah Ward said she was among the first to hold the grieving mother in her arms, consoling her.

“As you can imagine, this had a profound effect on me,” Ms. Ward said.

Ms. Ward was among other BVITB personnel on hand throughout the distraught mother’s stay on the island, while she awaited an autopsy and death certificate before she traveled home, assured that her son’s body would soon follow.

The BVITB, she explained, offers Visitor Support Services, a programme created in 2004 to help tourists through tough circumstances during their vacations.

The programme helps ease visitors along after a traumatic event, while also providing a “damage control” mechanism to preserve the territory’s tourism product, Ms. Ward said.

“I look at it as: If anything bad happens, our role at the Tourist Board is to create the most positive results,” she said. “What we want to say to people is: Yes, bad things do happen in paradise, but when they do happen, you have a support group.”

The full article appears in the March 11, 2010 issue.