During the Spring Festival, the tourism industry is extremely hot, and all parts of the country are "people from the crowd" mode, and the ensuing tourism safety issues have also become the focus of public attention, especially the plateau tour, mountain tour and other projects have higher requirements for tourists' physical conditions and tourism safety and security. If an accident occurs during travel due to physical reasons, who is responsible?
The reporter learned today that the Chengdu Qingyang Court heard a case of compensation for a travel accident.
Facts of the case
On March 28, 2023, Wang and Yang traveled together, and before departure, Yang consulted the tour guide of Travel Agency A about Sichuan tourism-related matters.
How high is the altitude of the scenic spot? Is high anti-anti serious? Is there a danger to it? There's nothing wrong with the two of us being 60 years old, right? ”
If you are not particularly old and generally in good physical condition, you rarely have high ......”
After some consultation, Wang and Yang signed the "Sichuan Province Domestic Tourism Contract" with B Travel Agency and purchased the "8 days and 7 nights quality tour of a certain scenic spot".
On April 2, 2023, Wang and Yang followed Travel Agency B to the scenic spot and were free to move according to the arrangement of Travel Agency B. But on the way down the mountain, Wang suddenly fainted near the scenic spot, and Yang immediately gave him cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
At 17:15 on April 2, Yang dialed 120 emergency **, but the ** was not connected, and at 17:19, he dialed 120 emergency ** again, and the ** was connected. During the waiting, the staff of the scenic spot brought oxygen cylinders. The staff of the scenic area carried a stretcher to send Wang to the waiting place of the sightseeing car, sent him to the cableway boarding point through the sightseeing car, and then sent Wang to the bottom of the mountain through the cableway.
At about 18:21 on April 2, Wang arrived at the cableway drop-off point, and then waited for the ambulance personnel here to send Wang to the hospital, and at 18:37, Wang was diagnosed with sudden death.
Court trial
After that, Wang's relatives sued the court, demanding that travel agency A, travel agency B, and scenic spot compensate Wang for medical expenses, death compensation, funeral expenses, living expenses of dependents, and spiritual solace for a total of 84756933 yuan.
After the trial, the Chengdu Qingyang Court made a civil judgment: B travel agency paid 166113 to Wang's relatives87 yuan; Other litigation claims of Wang's relatives were rejected. Later, the plaintiff appealed, and the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
What the judge said
If there is an accident in the tour, who will be responsible.
The court stated that with regard to the parties' own responsibilities, Yang signed the "Sichuan Province Domestic Tourism Contract" with Travel Agency B on behalf of himself and Wang, and after the contract was signed, Travel Agency B arranged travel itineraries and provided travel services for Yang and Wang, so a travel contract relationship was formed between Travel Agency B and Wang. During his travels, Wang suddenly fell ill and died, and his medical records stated that he died suddenly. According to the description of the infirmary of the scenic spot, combined with the geographical location at the time and Wang's symptoms, Wang's death was most likely caused by altitude sickness-induced disease, and his death was mainly caused by his own body, and Wang himself should bear the main responsibility for the consequences of his death.
With regard to the liability of travel agency B, travel agency B, as a provider of tourism service activities, arranged for tourists to go to high-altitude areas, did not remind Wang of the precautions for altitude sickness, and was not at the scene after Wang suddenly fainted, did not take any rescue measures, and failed to fulfill the reasonable and necessary safety guarantee obligations, therefore, travel agency B should bear certain compensation for the consequences of Wang's death, and the court decided that travel agency B should bear 20% of the compensation liability for the losses caused by Wang's death.
Regarding the responsibilities of travel agency A, before the signing of the travel contract, Yang consulted with the staff of travel agency A through WeChat, but Yang signed a travel contract with travel agency B and paid the remaining balance to travel agency B, and travel agency A did not provide any travel services during the performance of the travel contract. Based on the available evidence, it is not sufficient to prove that Travel Agency A was at fault for the consequences of Wang's death.
Regarding the responsibility of the scenic spot, when Wang suddenly fainted, the cableway and sightseeing car in the scenic spot had stopped operating, and the scenic spot actively took rescue measures after the accident, and the safety guarantee obligation and rescue obligation had been fulfilled within the reasonable and necessary scope, and the scenic spot also made humanitarian compensation after the incident, so the scenic spot should no longer bear the liability for compensation.
Chengdu ** Jinguan News Reporter Chen Di Editor-in-charge He Qitie Editor Wen Zhu.