Solo diver missing - Pulau satang island, Malaysia

[Julius SCHMIDT]

Maybe they're a bit busy


"At the eastern end of Sarawak yesterday (18 April) the body of another female diver, Ling Beng Wei, was found floating above a dive-site off Miri.

The 34-year-old victim had been on an hour-long dive with a group of 25 others around noon. All had surfaced, but a second dive had then begun, reportedly after a surface interval of only “a few minutes”, before being aborted after five minutes because of the water conditions.

The other divers had made it back to the boat and when Ling was found to be missing a search was carried out. Her body was taken to hospital for a post mortem examination."


Missing diver: agency accused of slow response - Divernet

 

[DandyDon]

"At the eastern end of Sarawak yesterday (18 April) the body of another female diver, Ling Beng Wei, was found floating above a dive-site off Miri.

See Body recovered - Miri-Sibuti Coral Reefs National Park, Borneo

 

[Centrals]

Maybe they're a bit busy

Two different places, Kuching and Miri, hundred of miles apart.

 

[wKkaY]

There are a lot of questions:
1. Who organized the trip?
2. Boat or shore dive?
3. If the "missing diver" had surfaced and blew the whistle then surely it was NOT that difficult to locate her. No mention if the sea was rough. She should be drifting with the current and how difficult it is to follow the current on a boat?
4. Why would the missing diver's brother needed to be informed by an dive operator to call authority for help?
5. The search carried out by the authority on the following day was concentrated about 2 nautical miles from where she was last seen!!!!! She could be 100 miles away.
6. Life is cheap.

The victim's social media photos showed that she's an avid hunter (spearfishing on scuba I presume). My guess is that they were on a privately-organized fishing trip. They were diving quite far offshore, about 30nm from land, with no surrounding islands on google maps.

 

[chillyinCanada]

The victim's social media photos showed that she's an avid hunter (spearfishing on scuba I presume). My guess is that they were on a privately-organized fishing trip. They were diving quite far offshore, about 30nm from land, with no surrounding islands on google maps.

In that case, we know that she wasn't whistling from an island.

 

[wKkaY]

Would the authority react differently if the missing diver is an ethnic Malay?

I don't think it was a factor. The victim's family's side of the story was only based on what was visible to him.

For balance, I'll quote a personal social media post of a coast guard officer: "dah hilang baru nak report. Time nak keluar ke laut tu ada info apa2 ke. Aset kami memang ada 24jam operasi kat laut. Yg dia nampak kami cuma buat PC tu ja. Dia ingat yg kat jety tu jugak ke yg pi cari mangsa. Aset cuma 1 tu je ke yg pi cari. Bila family member buat statement mcm ni jadi patah semangat kami nak cari. Tapi kami x peduli semua tu. Tanggungjawab kami akan laksanakan"

My translation: "Only after the diver went missing did they lodge a report. When they went out to sea they didn't bother to lodge their voyage with us. Our assets are always operating at sea 24/7. But all that he thought we did was to hold a press conference. And he thought that the vessel docked at the jetty is involved in the search, and that it is the one and only vessel. When family members make statements like these, it really breaks our spirit. But we will brush it aside and execute our responsibility anyway."

 

[Centrals]

In that case, we know that she wasn't whistling from an island.

So the whistling was more than likely came from her!
With no land mass nearby to reflect the sound then it should not be too difficult to tell where it was originated from. I would imagine she was frantically blowing her whistle non stop trying to attract attention.
30nm from shore! I assume the boat has twin engines.
The boat did not bother to follow her bubbles during her solo dive!

If I am diving 30nm from shore you can rest assured that I will be carrying several signaling devices.

 

[Searcaigh]

Does anyone understand how difficult it is to hear a whistle from a boat with its engines running!

I've been on a long drift on the surface before in Musandam region of Oman, and even my dive alert (air horn) couldn't be heard on the boat. What saved me was the 2m DSMB.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Does anyone understand how difficult it is to hear a whistle from a boat with its engines running!

I've been on a long drift on the surface before in Musandam region of Oman, and even my dive alert (air horn) couldn't be heard on the boat. What saved me was the 2m DSMB.

They could hear whistling but couldn't figure out the direction. It seems odd that neither could they figure out surface current.

I hope that she's still alive on the surface and is found. Every hour that goes by makes a life recovery that much more unlikely.

 

[Centrals]

Does anyone understand how difficult it is to hear a whistle from a boat with its engines running!

I've been on a long drift on the surface before in Musandam region of Oman, and even my dive alert (air horn) couldn't be heard on the boat. What saved me was the 2m DSMB.

1. They thought they had heard whistling.
2. The engine should be on idle while waiting. There were enough people on board to keep an look out for her. What were they doing during that time? Cleaning the catch!
3. How difficult it is for the boat to follow the surface current?
4. 30nm off shore no wonder they could not call for immediate help and have to sail home and of course getting late.
5. Very poor planning.

What is her chance of survival? 2 full days had gone already and she could be anywhere depending on where the surface current took her.
Need a miracle.