A Belizean dive centre owner and a dive guide have been banned for life from running dive operations in the country, following the death of a diver who tried to swim to shore after boat engine failure in rough weather.

Vance Cabral, owner of Advance Diving in Placencia, and dive guide Mark Tucker have been banned by Belize's Tour Operators Licensing Board.

American Abigail Brinkman, 28, died after being taken out with three others aboard the centre's boat Advanced One to a dive site, Gladden Spit, on Saturday 22 October. After the dive, the boat started to drift out to sea when it suffered engine failure.

Against Tucker's advice to stay with the boat, the divers elected to attempt swimming to the nearest land, the island South Silk Caye, some 3.5 miles away. The boat moved helplessly away, leaving Tucker to endure 20 hours without water before being able to swim to another island as the boat drifted close to it.

Cabral, who had been dropped off with some snorkellers at South Silk Caye, could see Advanced One drifting away without power. He swam four miles to an island with rangers able to call search and rescue services.

By nightfall neither the divers nor the dive boat had been located. Air and sea searches by the Belize Defence Force continued throughout Sunday, without success.

On Monday afternoon, Abigail Brinkman - reportedly the only diver not to have been wearing a full wetsuit - was found dead, floating at the surface.

The three other divers were located at around the same time, close together. Transferred to hospital in Belize City, a 50-year-old man was treated for hypothermia. Two women, of 34 and 38 years old, were reported to be in fair condition.

The survivors reported that the dive boat's radio had been inoperable, meaning that Tucker could not call for assistance. The Tour Operators Licensing Board established that Cabral and Tucker did not possess current operating licenses.

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