DATELINE :- 21st July 2000
DIVING FATALITIES
Three die in June
Three divers were killed in separate incidents in Britain during a 10-day period in June - two in the Weymouth area and one in North Yorkshire.
One of the deaths involved a Buddy Inspiration closed-circuit rebreather and has coincided with the death of a Dr Max Hahn, a noted diving gear specialist who was using an Inspiration in Germany (story below).
John Osborne, 31, from Huddersfield, was lost and presumed dead after an incident at 48m on the wreck of the freighter Melanie, 2.5 miles off Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire.
Diving in a party of five from the charter vessel North Star of Scarborough, Osborne was said by his buddy to have got into difficulties with his regulator and experienced complications in deploying his octopus rig.
It is reported that the buddy tried to share his own air supply and that, following further difficulties, the buddy was forced to make an emergency ascent to call for assistance.
Fellow-divers descended to search for Osborne, but could not locate him. The buddy was airlifted to Scarborough Hospital and recompressed for possible decompression illness. North Yorkshire Police's underwater search team declined to search the wreck on account of visibility limited to 1m, its dangerous nature and its 50m depth, at the limit of the police's permitted operating range.
Meanwhile teenager Dean Chard, 17, was found dead on the seabed in Weymouth Bay, off Bowleaze, after entering the water to spearfish solo in quiet conditions from a cover boat handled by his father. Dean became overdue and an emergency call was made.
Among several dive boats that responded, skipper Ian Taylor of Skin Deep of Weymouth dived to find Dean lying on his back in 9m of water.
"Dean had removed his scuba set, which was sitting right beside him," Ian Taylor told Diver. "It's a mystery. There was a sailing buoy some 12m away, but no sign that Dean had become entangled in it.
"There were no marks on the muddy bottom to suggest he had struggled in any way."
Brought to the surface, the teenager was given first aid before being airlifted to Dorchester Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
An inquest will be held by the coroner for west Dorset.
In an appalling week for Taylor, just four days later, on 13 June, Skin Deep was involved in a second fatality.
A charterer among a group of 10 diving the wreck of the Salsette, 10 miles west of Portland Bill, suffered what is thought to have been an oxygen toxicity fit while on the wreck at a depth of 43m.
Ian Swift, 41, was using an Inspiration rebreather and, when his fit began, is reported to have tried to switch to his bail-out system.
An accompanying diver tried in vain to replace his dislodged mouthpiece before beginning a buoyant lift. Swift, however, is reported to have became too buoyant, and had to be released to ascend quickly to the surface while the other diver completed his deco stop.
Spotting the unconscious Swift on the surface, Taylor used Skin Deep's winch-operated stern lift to get him back aboard.
"The diving platform lowers to a point well under water," said Taylor, "so I was able to stand on it and guide Ian on. Without that it would have been a real problem getting him up."
First-aid procedures were started immediately, but Swift did not survive a helicopter journey to hospital.
Other divers on the boat have reported that Swift's rebreather emitted a series of warning beeps both before and during his dive. But Swift, who had two years' experience of the Inspiration, decided that no major problem existed and continued with his dive plan.
The equipment is being examined by an expert in Plymouth, whose report will be heard by the coroner for west Dorset.
Swift was known to Ian Taylor, who described the former London market trader, who had moved to Portland to open a cafe with his girlfriend, as a "likeable guy" who had helped out periodically as crew on a number of dive boats.
Meanwhile the Dorset police officer handling the cases of both Dean Chard and Ian Swift has commended the actions of Ian Taylor in both incidents as "exemplary in seamanship, provision of first aid and communication with the emergency services".