The family of a 46-year-old woman from Tokyo have won over £200,000 damages from a diving instructor after she was struck and killed by a boat propellor at the end of a dive.

The woman was part of a group diving with a diving instructor/guide off a charter dive boat in the sea off the Izu Peninsula, south-west of Tokyo, Japan, at a dive site that was heavily used was boat traffic. As she surfaced from the dive she was struck on the head by the propellor of a passing boat and died immediately.

The instructor leading the dive denied responsibility, claiming that it was her own fault that she had surfaced in the path of a boat.

After evidence form other divers in the group, the judge found that the instructor had failed to adequately brief the group about the dangers posed by boat traffic at the site, had given no instructions about safe surfacing procedures and had failed to ensure that the group surfaced together, safely. The judge also found that the diver had failed to pay sufficient attention and could be held 30 percent responsible for the accident.

Her family were asking for 119 million Yen (£614,000). After examining the damages for reasonableness, and reducing them by the 30 percent contributory negligence, the final figure of 44 million Yen (£227,000) was determined.

The award was made against the diving instructor and the travel agent organising the holiday.


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