Diver death in Cornwall

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/3719551.stm

A diver has drowned after getting into difficulty off the Cornwall coast.

The man and two friends had been diving off the coast near Tintagel Castle, Falmouth Coastguard said. He was 36 and from Hertfordshire.

The man had re-surfaced before getting into trouble. His two friends tried to help him. They then contacted emergency services when he went under water.

Police say the coroner has been informed and a post-mortem examination is due to be carried out on Monday.

A search and rescue helicopter from RAF Chivenor in north Devon was scrambled to the scene, along with the Port Isaac Inshore Lifeboat and the Boscastle coastguard team.

A body was later found by the lifeboat crew.

The diver was described by coastguards as young, but with two or three years' experience.

 

[simbrooks]

Sad to hear someone dying near where i used to live. Some of the Devon and Cornwall coast is very treacherous to anyone, divers included.

 

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Dived off Cornwall (south coast) for the first time last month and was impressed by the visibility which was near 6m on the one day, some nice scenery too.

Although it may have no bearing at all on this incident there were a few bulletins issued about the general area this year:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3637171.stm

South West scuba experts are worried inexperienced divers who have only received basic training abroad may get into trouble in the region's waters.

Experts in the industry say overconfident "holiday divers" are a danger to themselves and others unless they get local guides and training.

This quote may have nothing to do with this diver incident but it highlights your point about the waters (well the UK in general).

The UKs total diving death toll for this year is now well about the total for last year and we're only half way through it.

 

[simbrooks]

Maybe i will dive there one day, most of my family still lives in that prime diving area! Should be more experienced and trained by then, but still try to find the locals where i can around there, above the water i am fine and more than able after years out on that water, below is another story! I wonder what your "DAN report" will show for this year, that is a surprising amount of deaths so far.

 

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BSAC recording period afaik runs from October to October with the results published into the near year i think round about february so it'll be a while.

Although there have been far more incidents already this year than the whole of last year the causes are much the same as ever which if anything makes the large increase more puzzling.

 

[ScubaTexan]

Dived off Cornwall (south coast) for the first time last month and was impressed by the visibility which was near 6m on the one day, some nice scenery too.

Were you anywhere near Porthleven? I have friends that live there and I've seen divers do shore dives there a lot.

This is a really sad story, as well.

 

[String]

Nope, 51 miles by road, near 1hr 45 mins due to speed limits. I had to look on a map to find out where it was even (as i said, been to cornwall to dive exactly once so not really familiar with any of it).

 

[flw]

BSAC recording period afaik runs from October to October with the results published into the near year i think round about february so it'll be a while.

Although there have been far more incidents already this year than the whole of last year the causes are much the same as ever which if anything makes the large increase more puzzling.

Except that the numbers are still very small, so even a small rise/fall will look much more dramatic than it really is. There are always incidents around Easter weekend, statistically the 4 day holiday in England pushes the number of divers up out of proportion. As far as I know there hasn't been an official report into any of the recent incidents, so exactly what the cause was is unknown.

 

[dbulmer]

I wonder if I could be considered muppet of the year?
About 6 weeks I made a perfect giant stride in the local pool. I'd checked no-one was underneath me - only thing I didn't do was check the depth. Result: Broken leg (tibia), no dive trip to the Maldives, and much embarassment ( ).

Never underestimate the muppet factor!

 

[simbrooks]

About 6 weeks I made a perfect giant stride in the local pool. I'd checked no-one was underneath me - only thing I didn't do was check the depth. Result: Broken leg (tibia), no dive trip to the Maldives, and much embarassment

Maybe there was a reason no-one was in the pool beneath you? However i have seen people jump from great heights into baby paddling pools and come out unscathed - however they did it horizontal not giant striding. When is the anticipated healing/next diving date? Not sure whether this counts as a diving related injury in the stats though as it was confined water.

As for Tintagel's location, look at the north coast of Cornwall, its a little south of Bude, nice area, not sure i would shore dive it though, waves/surf can be terrible around that area.