Accident In Australia

[jackbeckford]

This is a very long winded post, so bare with me.
I've come on here for a bit of advice, i found this website purely by chance, and purely because i didn't know where else to seek help.

I'm 20 years old and live near London, about 2 years ago i went travelling around Australia, during my travels i took part on a 3 day boat cruise of the Whitsunday Islands. On the first day of this trip i was given the option of partaking in an "introductory" dive. I was very sceptical about diving because it wasn't something i felt comfortable with, but as my friends were interested i thought i'd give it a go for their sakes.
We were taken from our boat to a dive boat, and given a very brief run-down, basically as we were novices we were told that we wouldn't have to do anything, and that the instructor would do everything for us (a group of 3). We were told he'd monitor our air and keep an eye on us at all times. I still don't know, even to this day,how to find out how much air you'd have left.
I explained to the instructor how apprehensive i was, and he assured me i'd be fine and that he'd stick by me. Now i got in the water pretty much clueless, with kind of an idea what to do. Gradually we were taken down and after the initial panic of breathing underwater, i began to really enjoy it. Now this continued for about 20 minutes, when i started to feel an odd sensation whilst breathing, i was having to suck instead of just casually breathing, as it was my first time i didn't really understand what was going on and this went on for a minute or so until i exhaled, tried to inhale only to find that there was no air left in my tank! Panic Stations! We were about 8 metres down. I immediately grabbed the fin of the instructor and did what i thought was the sign for no air (hand across the throat), he didn't seem to understand, and by now i was really panicking, my respirator had come out and the instructor put my spare one in my mouth, he didn't realise what was going on, i swallowed enough water to think that this was it! Until he just about managed to put his respirator in my mouth and i got a little gasp of air, i couldn't take in any at all really cos i'd swallowed so much water.
He took me to the surface where i was violently sick for 10 minutes, and then taken onto the dive boat. Now no one was very helpful here, they said i must have been breathing to heavily! How was i supposed to know that??? They ushered me off the boat a.s.a.p and back to my catermarandg, without even bothering to tell the crew what had happened. For the next two days of the trip i really struggled to breathe and had a really rubbish time on a trip that was meant to be the highlight of my holiday.
This was nearly 2 years ago now, and me and my family are still in the process of taking legal action, but it seems to be going nowhere very fast. Can anyone offer any advice on my situation? What they think about it? And where i should take it next? The last i heard was that they would fight me in court, but they wanted to know before exactly what i wanted. Can you put a price on a near fatal accident? And i will certainly never scuba dive again. If anyone can help at all your advice would be much appreciated. Was i in the wrong?

 

[naskatucket]

i am not a lawyer but it does seem that the instruction given (or lack there of) was wholly inadequate. i've been to the whitsundays, sorry you expierience was so bad.

 

[H2Andy]

i don't know Australian law, but i see some primary issues here:

1. statute of limitations: find out how long you have under Australian law to
bring suit. the clock is ticking. there are two, three, and four year (most common)
time periods to file suit, so you need to find out which one applies to you.

2. damages. what damages did you suffer as a result of the incident? sounds
like your health was not affected long-term, and the most you suffered was
a couple of rough days.

two repercussions of what i see is your lack of damages:

a. damages is an essential element of negligence. if you can't establish damages
(i.e. that were injured somehow), you have no cause of action to recover what you lost through injuries (since you weren't injured); and

b. unless you pay an attorney an hourly fee, they are going to take your case
only if it will make them money in the end. they collect a portion of your....
that's right, damages... with little or no damages, no lawyer is going to be
interested in pursuing your case.

this is not meant as legal advice. i am not licensed to practice law in
England or Australia. please consult a lawyer familiar with the appropriate
jurisprudence before taking any action.

that said, hope you get some real instruction on scuba diving and get to enjoy
this great sport. it's just awesome when done safely!

 

[Diver0001]

This is a very long winded post,

I'm sorry to hear that you had such a terrible experience.

I can't address your law suit at all but I can say that assuming it was a PADI course, the group size and depth you mentioned are within acceptable standards.

R..

 

[firedawg226]

I have always been a little leary of some of the resort courses. They have given me some students over the past because the people that took them really dug the time in water.
I am quite sure that you had to sign a waiver and that is where you might have a problem depending on what and how it was worded. I would contact the group that took you out and complain, and inform them that you are considering getting an attorney. I would think at the very least they should return any fee's that you were charged. In addition to contacting that group, i would try and find out who or what governing body is over the dive industry there and write or call or both. I would hound them till you get some kind of responce.
Keep in mind that not all of these groups act as they did and it is unfortunate that you fell prey. Try not to let one bad experience sour you on the underwater world. There are plenty of Good instructor's out there that can turn this into a positive thing for you. It certainley sounded like you wre having a good time up untill you ran out of air.
I hope this helps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Scuba_Steve]

I'm sorry to hear that you had such a terrible experience.

I can't address your law suit at all but I can say that assuming it was a PADI course, the group size and depth you mentioned are within acceptable standards.

R..

Well thank God for that...whewww, I mean shoot man, for a second I thought this was just an act of stupidity or something, but hey.....it's within standards...LOL

ROFLMAO!!!

No NOT ragging on you at all Rotuner, I know exactly what you're saying, but the inference to these dog-and-pony shows makes me want to fall on my snorkel.

Thank-you mass-marketting, anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Another satisfied customer. LOL.

Hopefully they got you to sign-off on all the waivers so then they can tell you that it's all your fault and you should have known better. That's always a good line.

Not a lawyer, just a realist, be thankful your alive, stick this in the back of your mind for next time. Given the odds of how these things are typically run, you'll need it. Good news is they seldom fool you twice.

Good luck man, you really deserve it, but don't expect a thing.

Some things are just criminal.

Regards

 

[theskull]

Well, you could take legal action against the friends who talked you into diving even though you were uncomfortable with it, and against the Australian Ministry of Tourism, and against the manufacturer of the tank, etc. etc. etc.

Or you can be glad that you survived with the slightest of ill-effects and get on with your life. Whatever the dive leader may have done wrong, he ultimately saved your life when things got dicey. I take it you didn't thank him for this.

theskull

 

[Robert Phillips]

Steve, I think you added one too many m's in your thanks! (I won't mention the one too many t's though )
Robb

 

[jackbeckford]

Thanks for all your advice, i appreciate that none of you are lawyers and therefore don't ultimately know. But it has given me some reassurances on my current situation.

In response to thanking the Instructor for saving my life, yes i actually did at the time i was very grateful, looking back on it now i regret saying this, yes he did save my life, but at the end of the day if he'd been doing his job as i was told he should be, then the situation would have never arisen. Again, thanks for your advice.

 

[Diver0001]

Well thank God for that...whewww, I mean shoot man, for a second I thought this was just an act of stupidity or something, but hey.....it's within standards...LOL

He would have had a stronger case if they had broken standards. That's all I was saying.

It's also not really something the DM would be expecting. In order to empty an 80cf tank in 20 minutes in 8 metres of water you need a SAC of 61 litres per min or something like 2cf per min. It's amazing he didn't hyperventilate and pass out.

R..