Australian missing off of Victoria

[DandyDon]

From Diver missing off Victorian wreck

Police have searched through the night for a diver missing in waters just off the entrance to Port Phillip Bay in Victoria.
A woman aged in her 40s was part of a dive group that was on a charter trip exploring a wreck off Point Lonsdale when she disappeared.
The experienced diver was a regular visitor to the area known as Ships Graveyard.
Jason Salter, from the charter company Dive Victoria, says it is not clear what went wrong.
"Early reports from the diver's buddy was that they were making a normal ascent close to the surface and for some reason got separated," he said.
"She'd certainly dived in those waters on a fairly regular basis and had been out diving a number of times and had done a dive even earlier that day."
Mr Salter said the boat company's vessels have joined the search for the diver.
"We've cancelled all the dives for the rest of the weekend and we're hoping to help with the search and rescue efforts that are going to be continuing," he said.
"We've had to deal with divers who've had various accidents and medical conditions but I've never been in the situation where we haven't been able to locate a person."
An air and sea search continued throughout the night but there has been no sign of the woman.
SES volunteers have been scouring the shorelines.

From Vic search continues for missing diver

A scuba diver missing off Victoria's Bellarine Peninsula had become separated from her dive buddy during ascent, the dive operator says. THE woman, a reasonably experienced diver in her 40s, failed to surface from a dive on the SS Coogee shipwreck about 3pm (AEST) on Saturday.
An extensive air, sea and shore search has so far failed to find the woman, who had more than 50 logged dives.
Dive Victoria charter operator Jason Salter says the woman vanished during her second dive of the day on the 30-metre deep Coogee, in an area known as the Ships' Graveyard, just outside the heads of Port Phillip Bay.
"Her dive buddy surfaced without her toward the end of the dive, and the report the dive buddy gave us was that they were coming up together (and) she was having a little bit of difficulty maintaining proper buoyancy," Mr Salter told AAP.

"He helped her a bit, they kept coming up, got to about eight metres from the surface and somehow they were separated from each other. He looked around for a bit, couldn't see her, came to the surface and it would appear that she didn't come up."

About 12 search and rescue boats and two helicopters scoured an area of 16 square nautical miles, while State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers combed the shoreline between Point Lonsdale and Barwon Heads.

Mr Salter said search and rescue divers will search an area down stream from where the woman disappeared on Sunday.
He said the surface conditions were flat and calm when the diver disappeared but the undercurrent could have swept her out to sea.
Mr Salter said Dive Victoria had experienced a diver fatality before, but had never had a missing diver and the group was in disbelief.
There is some hope she could still be alive, he said.
"If she came to the surface and she just simply drifted away from the area and nobody noticed her, and then we didn't find her, she may have drifted onto an isolated beach," he said.

 

[Griffo]

Very close to home. Can't believe I didn't hear about it already.

Water temp is around 11C / 50F right now, so even if she drifted off I wouldn't hold much hope, but I do pray she is found safe and well.

How does one lose a buddy during the ascent at only 8m? The vis here can be pretty terrible at times, particularly shallow, but if your buddy is having problems... I hope it wasn't a friend or family member, that would be hard to live with. I wonder if she suffered some kind of over-expansion injury from her lack of buoyancy control.

Dive Vic run a pretty tight ship, they won't even let you on the boat if you don't have local diving experience due to a previous fatality (grossly overweighted freshly minted warm water diver with a turned off tank an non connected LPI) and personally check everyone's gear before they let you jump in.

 

[Petert71]

I've dived the Coogee a few times, it's in 30m. Cold water and visibility aside, it's a fairly straight forward dive, but it is possible to drift a reasonably amount on accent.

I almost booked onto that dive yesterday, but decided not to because it was scheduled as a double dive (J4 sub in 26m was the prior dive). It is possible that the first dive may have contributed in some way, but that's just speculation on my part.

I agree with OzGriffo. Dive Vic are very aware of safety. New dives to Melbourne are asked to do a pier try-dive before getting on boats. Air and equipment are checked every time. Boat and dive briefs (including lost buddy proceedures) are stated on every trip. Surface markers are commonly carried and deployed.

 

[Griffo]

Still no sign.
Apparently vis in water was 3 to 5 meters (10-15ft).
According to news reports, the last time the buddy saw her she was below him.

 

[bergersau]

There is a first hand account of the accident here
Dive-Oz Discussion Forums - We've Gone Virtual!! - Police search for missing diver - Point Lonsdale

Very sad for all concerned.

 

[Griffo]

Latest news articles claim that they have found her BC and Tank. Does this mean she ditched her rig for some reason ?


Replied using Tapatalk. Please forgive my typing.

 

[Petert71]

Further update indicates damage by marine life to her gear.

Shark bites on missing diver's gear

Personally I doubt she was 'taken' by a shark. The more likely scenario is it explains why her body wasn't with her gear but not the cause of death.

 

[Aceswild84]

Sad story for everyone, prayers go out to those involved and their families.

Chase

 

[timakempton]

Given the evidence it is almost a certainty that she was in fact taken by a shark probably a Great White that happened to be passing through the area. This is not exactly a tropical environment so the number of scavengers required to leave no remains with her gear in such a short time are just not present. The evidence suggests that she was either taken directly or that her body was taken soon after death by a shark large enough to consume the majority of her remains in one sitting. We are talking about a section of coastline where 20ft+ sharks have been seen in the past it is not a regular occurrence but they are out there.
My apologies to anybody that is upset by my comments. Unfortunately this sort of thing is not pleasant but it is reality.

 

[antattack]

"...damaged by a shark or some other marine animal..."
Looks like we have a guess, not a fact.

( Someone has to stick up for the sharks)