Lizette Zambrano remains in disbelief over the death of her husband Jorge Guillen, who was electrocuted in a hot tub earlier this month while they vacationed at a Mexican resort.
“I still can’t believe it,” the Texas widow said. Hello America in tears during an interview that aired on the ABC morning show on Friday, June 21. “A very good man has been taken away.”
Speaking for the first time since Guillen’s death, Zambrano said she hopes to prevent what happened to her and her late husband from happening again.
The couple was visiting the Sonoran Sea Resort in Puerto Peñasco on June 11 when they decided to check out the property’s hot tub as the sun began to set. But upon entering, Guillen was electrocuted by what she claims was faulty wiring that sent an electrical current into the water.
Zambrano was also seriously injured in the incident, with shocks passing through her body as she attempted to grab her husband’s body from the hot tub.
“The last thing I remember him saying was, ‘Oh fuck,’ and that’s the same moment I felt the first electric shock,” she recalled to the ABC correspondent News, Matt Rivers. “And then it happened again and again. I didn’t hear it again.”
Bystanders tried to help, but their rescue attempts were hampered by the current, according to Zambrano. “A lot of people jumped in, but they kept jumping because it was too strong,” she said.
Surveillance images from the scene released GMA showed that rescuers were eventually able to get Zambrano to safety, although she had no pulse and was quickly taken by medics to the hospital.
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It was there, as she regained consciousness, that she heard nurses say in Spanish: “Her husband did not survive.”
Zambrano has now filed a wrongful death lawsuit in El Paso County District Court against vacation rental facilitator Casago LLC. “This could have been avoided,” she said. “I want someone to take responsibility for what happened to my husband and myself.”
GoFundMe
Earlier this week, PEOPLE obtained a copy of Zambrano’s lawsuit, which seeks more than $1 million in damages, legal fees, expenses and penalties. The complaint alleged that resort staff did not immediately activate the “emergency stop” or attempt “to save Jorge or Lizette.”
“Jorge was electrocuted and drowned underwater for 10 minutes,” the lawsuit reads.
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Casago, LLC has denied liability, saying in a statement obtained by PEOPLE that the fault lies elsewhere.
“The Sonoran Sea is a condominium complex and the homeowners association is responsible for all common areas, including maintenance of the pool, hot tubs and grounds,” they said. “Casago, a vacation rental company, is not involved in any management or maintenance of the resort.”
In the meantime, a GoFundMe has been created for the benefit of the couple’s families. As of Friday, June 21, more than $56,200 had been raised.
