Tour operator vehicle vandalised
Frenzied attack
A frenzied attack on a local tour operators’ vehicle has the owner scratching his head and looking for answers.
Mark Fraenkel who runs Blue Dive, a 100% locally owned scuba diving company that takes tourists out on the Great Barrier Reef, is at a loss to know why someone would do such a despicable thing.
The Blue Dive van was parked in Morning Close, off St Crispin’s Avenue in Port Douglas, when someone poured what appears to be black industrial paint over the windscreen, covered the tyres in oil and then slashed 2 of them.
Mr Fraenkel says it’s not the first time the van has been vandalised, “it happened once before, around 8 months ago when the van was parked in town and had its four tyres slashed” he said. There’s no proof the two incidents are connected but Mr Fraenkel told Newsport it’s a strange coincidence that can’t be ignored. “The person who did this must be pretty sad and deranged to get pleasure out of it, I just don’t get it” he said.
Doesn’t make sense
Police have told Mr Fraenkel that pouring oil on the tyres, to presumably make them unsafe when the van is driven, is contrary to the act of slashing them so there’s no logic to it.
This crime has not disrupted Mr Fraenkel as much as his colleagues, who do most of the driving and diving. “The van is insured, but an attack like this mainly affects diving staff and the boat owners Blue Dive uses to take guests out” Mr Fraenkel said.
Police have forensically examined the vehicle, but no result is known at this stage. If anyone knows anything about this vandalism, please contact Queensland Police on 1800 333 000 or Port Douglas Police on (07) 4087 1999.