A lawsuit brought against a cruise line by the family of a tourist who drowned after saving a child at Horseshoe Bay Beach is due to go to trial in Florida next month.

Hyon Duk Shin, 49, died on March 27, 2024, while visiting the island on the Norwegian Getaway with his wife, Yanli Gong, their two young sons and his mother, Kwang Shin, all from Pennsylvania.

Last year, Ms Gong and Ms Shin filed a lawsuit on behalf of themselves and the children against Norwegian Cruise Line, claiming the company advertised an “easy” beach or swimming excursion for passengers to Horseshoe Bay, but failed to warn about its dangerous riptides and currents, the absence of any lifeguards and previous drownings.

Publicly available court papers show the cruise line tried unsuccessfully to avoid a full trial by getting a summary judgment against the plaintiffs.

Lawyers for Norwegian Cruise Line said in a written motion dated January 8 that the claimants’ allegations were “unsupported by the record evidence in this case”.

They said the complaint alleged that NCL was “negligent in failing to cancel or modify the subject excursion, failing to recognise the strong current at Horseshoe Bay Beach, failing to recognise the strong undertow, failing to provide lifeguards and promoting the subject area as a ‘more controlled environment’ ”.

The motion continued: “Plaintiff also alleged, under the guise of a failure to warn claim, that NCL failed to inspect Horseshoe Bay Beach.

“These allegations fail as a matter of law because NCL was not required to inspect, supervise or enforce specific safety standards for a public beach that is owned and operated by Bermuda, and there is no evidence NCL created or had notice of any unsafe conditions.”

The motion said there was “no record evidence that [Mr Shin] drowned due to any adverse sea conditions” but, even assuming he did, “such conditions are open and obvious as a matter of law”.

Cecilia Altonaga, a Chief United States District Judge, denied the cruise line’s motion last week and a five-day trial is expected to go ahead in the US District Court in the Miami division of the Southern District of Florida on a date soon after April 7.

The judge wrote in her March 12 denial that the family tried to reserve an NCL excursion to Horseshoe Bay but it was fully booked so they travelled there independently, having done the same on a 2022 visit, “after learning about the beach through” the cruise line.

Mr Shin took his children to play in the sea before he “went to assist another individual who appeared to be in distress in the water”.

“[He] was later discovered unresponsive in the ocean and was pronounced dead after a local resident brought him ashore,” the judge wrote.

She wrote that the parties disagreed about whether there was a warning sign at the beach entrance about the strong current and undertow.

They also disagreed on whether there was evidence that NCL had any “actual or constructive notice” of hazardous ocean conditions at the beach generally, as well as on the day Mr Shin drowned, and of any “prior incidents involving individuals struggling to swim at the beach”.

Judge Altonaga noted that on October 22, 2015, a passenger on the NCL vessel Breakaway complained to staff that conditions at Horseshoe appeared unsafe and that three individuals “were in danger to drown in the water” and that on the day Mr Shin drowned the “captain’s log on the Getaway indicated that the wind conditions were conducive to producing ‘stronger rip currents’ ”.

She wrote: “Therefore, a genuine dispute of material fact exists as to NCL’s notice of dangerous water conditions at the beach.”

For that reason and others, the judge found that a full trial should take place.

Eyewitness reports at the time of the drowning were that Mr Shin, an American civil engineer from Berwyn, Pennsylvania, swam towards a young girl struggling in high waves before getting into difficulties himself.

He died in the water before emergency services arrived and despite the efforts of Bermudian Ali Watlington, a trained lifeguard who spotted the commotion from South Road and rushed to help.

The Royal Gazetterevealed in August that there have been no public inquests in the past ten years into the 20-plus drownings or other sudden deaths that have happened in that period.

Statistics released recently by Bermuda Police Service showed five drowning deaths at Horseshoe Bay between 2015 and 2025.

There were no lifeguards on the day Mr Shin died but there is now a year-round lifeguard service at the beach.