Diving Thoughts

Marcus Lim, a doctor in Singapore and a well-known underwater photographer died on a rebreather dive on the Seven Skies wreck at Pulau Aur in Malaysia.

Some more information here and here.

When we think of entanglement hazards in Hong Kong, we’re normally thinking about fishing nets, but a diver in Wellington got trapped in weeds at Owhiro Bay earlier today. He’s now in a serious condition in Wellington hospital.

There is more in the New Zealand Herald.

Yesterday SCMP had a story about the diver who died while diving off Ping Chau on Thursday night. He was part of a group of over 10 people who were staying in a rented house there and had been diving by day and night. His name was Cheng Cheuk-yin and he was 50 years old and apparently was a veteran diver.

At around 9:45pm on Thursday he and a buddy were diving at Tai Tong Wan, which is on the east side of Ping Chau, Mirs Bay. They were in about 3 metres of water and less than 50 metres from shore. Mr. Cheng sufaced around 11:30pm and complained of feeling unwell. He had difficulty breathing as they swam back to shore. When they got back, his friend called marine police who arrived within about 5 minutes, by which time Mr. Cheng was semi-conscious. He was taken to Prince of Wales where he was declared dead shortly before 1am. One of the Chinese papers apparently mentioned that there was speculation he had suffered from a heart problem, which would fit in with the SCMP report.

The SCMP points out that diving deaths are on the rise, although in this case it could just be a medical problem that happened while someone was diving. There are also more people diving now than there used to be.

If you are a subscriber, you can read the SCMP article here.

I’ve heard a report from one of the Chinese news websites that a diver died after diving at Tung Ping Chau last night. He was reported to have had trouble breathing and Marine Police were called. The incident happened at around 11:35pm and he was taken to Prince of Wales hospital where he was pronounced dead. There only seem to have been 2 people on the boat. It sounds a bit like the night diver who died at Tseung Kwan O in April.

A British diver in his 60’s has been reported missing while diving the Empire Javelin, a D-Day landing vessel. The wreck is in 60 metres of water 22 miles north of Cherbourg. He was part of a group of divers who were diving on 23 June from a charter boat.

There is a brief report on Divernet.

I’ve just come across a report into the fatal accident off Port Island (Chek Chau / 赤洲) on 27 July 2008, where a diver was killed by a turning propellor. It was compiled by the Marine Accident Investigation Section of the Marine Department. This report is not intended to apportion blame or liability, but to try and identify the factors involved with a view to avoiding similar incidents in future.

Their conclusions are basically as follows

• The weather was squally with strong winds, heavy rain and rough seas.
• The diver was drawn into and struck by the propellor of the Crescent Island pleasure vessel
• The Crescent Island had grounded on a rocky beach after dragging its anchor, and the Master engaged the engine to try and free the boat, not realising that the diver was near the stern waiting to board.

Inevitably there were complications. The Master was concerned the vessel might capsize, and this was the second time the Master had engaged the engine. In the meantime an unrelated speedboat had towed several divers (including the victim) close to the Crescent Island so they could board. One of the dive instructors was supposedly acting as a lookout at the stern of the vessel, but didn’t see the speedboat or the divers.

The full report is here.

The body of the diver who went missing off Bluff Island has been found. This from the SCMP:

“The body of Ho Hing-tung, 45, a paediatric doctor at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, who went missing while diving in Sai Kung on Sunday, has been found. The body was found on the seabed by divers from the Fire Services Department at Ung Kong Wan, north of Bluff Island. ”

Our sympathies go out to his family.

Carl Spencer, a highly regarded British diver, has died after suffering severe decompression sickness after a dive on the Britannic. He had been leading a National Geographic Society expedition to film the wreck. Apparently witnesses saw him suffering convulsions while filming the Britannic’s bow, before rapidly ascending to the surface missing decompression stops. He was flown by helicopter to Athens Naval Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Britannic was the sister ship of the Titanic, and she sank in 57 minutes after hitting a mine in 1916 while acting as a hospital ship. The wreck lies in approximately 120 metres of water off Greece.

There is more information in the Times Online from where the above photo comes. There is also a thread on Rebreather World.

Again, from SCMP’s brief section -

“Search for diver to resume today

A search for a diver who went missing on Sunday off Bluff Island in Sai Kung was suspended at 6.30pm yesterday and was to resume today. The man, surnamed Ho, 46, entered the water with about 20 divers at Ung Kong Wan at about 2.30pm on Sunday. Police were called at 3.45pm after Mr Ho failed to surface. ”

Apple Daily has an article in Chinese here :

Not got much detail on this, but the SCMP’s “In Brief” section has the following:

“Rescuers search for missing diver

A man in his 30s or 40s was reported missing after going diving at Ung Kong Wan in Sai Kung at 3.40pm. Rescuers were continuing to search for him last night. ”

Ung Kong Wan is off Bluff Island where SCDC did a beach clean-up a couple of weeks ago. There doesn’t appear to be any more information in the English language press at the moment.

According to the SCMP a 44 year old diver died while doing a night dive to catch fish with friends off Tseung Kwan O industrial estate on Monday night. Contrary to an initial report that I was told about yesterday he was not a commercial diver.

Apparently he went into the water around 22:00 and his friends called the police at 00:33 when they could not find him. He was found about an hour later floating 50 metres from the waterfront, but was certified dead on arrival at Tseung Kwan O hospital. He was described as a licensed diver who had dived in the area before.  It was not clear whether he was diving with a buddy, and if so how they became separated.

If you are an SCMP subscriber, you can read their full story here.

There’s a report that a diver went missing last night in Tseung Kwan O, and his body has been found this morning.  Apparently four divers were working together and one disappeared. He was in his 40s.