Eastbourne diver missing off of south England

[DandyDon]

Diver’s body washed up on beach

THE body of a DGH doctor who disappeared while diving off the Eastbourne coast is believed to have washed up in Hastings.
Judy Beard, also known as Judy Belcher, fell overboard on July 11 and after an initial search proved unsuccessful was declared missing, presumed dead.
Her family paid tribute to her and colleagues at the DGH and its sister site in Hastings were quick to praise the work of the consultant haematologist who specialised in cancer treatment.
At around 9am yesterday (Thursday), the wetsuited body of a female diver matching her description was discovered by fishermen on Hastings seafront.
Her husband Nicholas Belcher has been informed and an inquest into her death will be held in the coming months.
At the time of her disappearance, a host of former patients flooded the Herald website with heartfelt tributes to Dr Beard, thanking her for the excellent treatment she had provided, including one reader who wrote, “I was a patient of Dr Beard and have been since 2007. She has been such an inspiration to me and helped both myself and my family through what was a devastating time. She was always smiling through every appointment – she was my rock.”
And members of the Hastings Sub Aqua club, of which she was an active member, were left reeling from the shock news. Dr Beard was also heavily involved with St Michael’s Hospice in St Leonards.
A spokesman for Sussex Police yesterday confirmed, “Police went to the beach at the west side of the harbour arm at Hastings, after a body had been found. It is that of an adult woman, wearing diving clothing and equipment, and it had evidently been washed ashore by the tide.
“The death is not being treated as suspicious and while formal identification has not yet taken place, we believe we know her identity.”

 

[DandyDon]

Inquest into doctor

Published on Friday 14 December 2012 06:00 A LEADING cancer doctor was knocked into the sea by a wave after getting into difficulty during a diving expedition, an inquest heard.
Dr Judy Belcher, who was known professionally as Dr Judy Beard, was diving with friends off the coast of Eastbourne on July 10 this year when tragedy struck.
Dr Belcher, 54, of Denbigh Road, Hooe, had completed a successful dive but struggled to get back on the boat, despite the efforts of her fellow divers.
Dr Belcher, a consultant haematologist and lead cancer clinician at the Conquest Hospital in Hastings and Eastbourne District General Hospital, disappeared when she was hit by a wave.
Her body was discovered by a council street cleaner on a beach close to Hastings Lifeboat Station on August 2.
An inquest into Dr Belcher’s death heard this week that the mother-of-one was an experienced diver and a qualified instructor.
She was among a group who had travelled out to a shipwreck for a routine dive.
The expedition had set off half an hour late because the boat needed more fuel, but finally anchored at the Rio Parana wreck at 11.30am.
Dr Belcher and her diving buddy, Charlie Wallace, were the second pair to descend.
Mr Wallace told coroner Alan Craze that there was nothing unusual about the dive and Dr Belcher had observed appropriate decompression stops.
But during the time the pair were underwater, weather conditions had deteriorated, with waves rising and falling by four or five feet.
Dr Belcher reached the surface and held on to a rope, but it was snatched from her hands by a wave.
Steven Hill, from Ashford, who was due to dive but decided against it at the last minute, said: “The first thing I remember is a cry of ‘throw me a rope’ which was Judy and I did.
“I looked over the boat and saw Judy.
“She grabbed hold of the rope and we pulled her round the side of the boat, round the stern to the opening where the ladder was.
“She got to the ladder in the normal way.
“A bit breathless, but she got to the ladder.”
But Dr Belcher’s swim line, which is used by divers to help them find their way back to anchor, had become caught.
John Short, who acted as navigator for the trip, attempted to un-snag the line.
Another member of the diving party sat on his legs as he struggled to free Dr Belcher as huge waves crashed over him.
Mr Hill said: “A large wave came over the boat, hitting John, and then I heard him shout they had lost her.”
Weighed down by her equipment, which included two tanks of compressed air, Dr Belcher sank.
She had two buoyancy devices, but neither had been inflated.
Mr Short said he believed Dr Belcher had fallen unconscious, otherwise she would have inflated them.
He added: “I saw no sign of a struggle or anything.”
Mr Short said weather conditions were “on the limit”.
Mr Hill added: “The water was perfectly fine to dive when they all went in.
“If you had taken novices with you, you probably would not have gone.
“But they were experience divers with years of experience.”
Dr Mark Howard, pathologist at Royal Sussex County Hospital, carried out a post mortem on Dr Belcher’s body.
He said Dr Belcher had no significant injuries to her head or body, suggesting she had not hit the boat.
Dr Howard said she did not drown, as the lungs were not heavy with water and there was no foam in the airways, but died from salt water immersion, or ‘dry drowning’
This is when water does not get into the lungs, but the shock of sudden immersion causes the airways to close.
Waterboarding can have a similar effect.
Summing up, coroner Alan Craze said: “I regard this as a pure accident.
“There’s no equipment failure or obvious mistake by her or anyone else.”
He added: “I’m quite happy to accept it was much safer when she went in than when she came to the surface.”
He recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.

 

[peterbj7]

A total tragedy, and a warning. Conditions all along that coast can quickly change from amenable to fierce, to the extent that it can become well-nigh impossible to board a boat. It took me 20 minutes once, from when I first attempted to leave the water to when I finally succeeded. It's extremely easy to be thrown hard against the boat in the meantime.

 

[chillyinCanada]

This is a most unhappy event for us to read and feel. And before the details were released, it brought to mind something much more simple, that occurs everyday, everywhere people are diving and always makes me anxious. How often do you see divers on the boat, walking/standing around with their weight belts on, but no other gear . . . as they are readying themselves in one way, or back after a dive, and talking excitedly to one another? Never fails to make me shudder, one pitch of the boat or slip on a deck, and over they could go, drowning before they realize all they have to do is release the weight belt. Really bad practice, a very bad practice. Don't do it people.

 

[Ayisha]

So from the article, it seems that she had a laryngospasm which closed her throat and asphyxiated her?

 

[o2dependant]

This is a most unhappy event for us to read and feel. And before the details were released, it brought to mind something much more simple, that occurs everyday, everywhere people are diving and always makes me anxious. How often do you see divers on the boat, walking/standing around with their weight belts on, but no other gear . . . as they are readying themselves in one way, or back after a dive, and talking excitedly to one another? Never fails to make me shudder, one pitch of the boat or slip on a deck, and over they could go, drowning before they realize all they have to do is release the weight belt. Really bad practice, a very bad practice. Don't do it people.

About the same amount as the amount of people hang out next to a tired Diver while they haul their gear up a slippery ladder after a dive!!

 

[peterbj7]

About the same amount as the amount of people hang out next to a tired Diver while they haul their gear up a slippery ladder after a dive!!

That's increasingly unusual in the waters around Britain. Generally I take off my gear/weights in the water and they're hoisted into the boat on a line. I then either climb relatively unencumbered up the ladder, or increasingly sit on the seat that has been lowered into the water and am raised out of the water and deposited on the deck.

 

[Ayisha]

Some boats in Ontario and Cozumel have that seat that lifts a diver up out of the water as well, and it makes exiting the water so easy!

Some boats in Ontario have a swim step a few feet in the water that is so easy to swim to and just stand up, with your upper body at the deck. You can take off your fins without being thrashed around by waves and just walk onto the deck. It's an awesome design!

 

[rickgillyon]

Most UK hardboats now have lifts, it's increasingly rare to see ladders.

 

[ferris213]

The coroner mentioned she had two buoyancy devices (I assume bcd and drysuit) but that neither were inflated. How can this be the case? Surely she had attained positive buoyancy while at the surface?

The fact that she sank would indicate she was negative at the surface in very rough conditions while struggling to board the boat. It doesn't make sense to me.

Either way it is a tragic accident that goes to reinforce my belief that moving around the boat at the beginning and end of the dive is the most dangerous time in the water.

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