Manly Beach fatality - Sydney, Australia

[DandyDon]

Diver dies after being found face down in the water near Manly Beach | Daily Mail Online

A scuba diver has died after being found face down and dragged from the water at a popular Sydney beach.
The NSW Ambulance Service confirmed a man was found unconscious in the water at Shelly Beach around 2pm on Thursday afternoon.
He was pulled from the water by surfers and other swimmers to receive urgent medical treatment by paramedics on nearby rocks.
Early reports were that two people found themselves in trouble at the cliffside section of Shelly Beach.
One observer said the two people were snorkelling in the area.
A number of people in diving gear were seen consoling each other in the car park of Shelly Beach headland as emergency services continued to work on the man.
'We understand two people are in the water in distress,' a NSW Surf Life Saving spokeswoman told The Manly Daily.
She said two lifeguards from Manly quickly attended the scene to help the people in the water.
One local said they saw a helicopter winching personnel down to the rock platform. They also saw the NSW Police boat and jetski on the water.
Fire trucks and ambulances had crowded into the Shelly Beach headland car park in response to the emergency.

 

[CJS]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158655297534191&id=533404190

Very sad. Very, very competent diver and great guy. One news report suggested he was diving a rebreather.

 

[DandyDon]

One news report suggested he was diving a rebreather.

This one says he was diving a rebreather: Diver dies in water near Shelly Beach - Manly Observer

 

[John the Pom]

I know the spot well. AFAIK more popular with free divers, as it is a bit of a scramble down the cliff to get your gear onto the rock platform, and it can be very exposed if there is any significant swell. The first time my buddy & I dived it we took small tanks, entered off the rock platform, then followed the reef around to the sheltered beach exit (we ran out of air and had a long-ish but relaxing surface swim to the beach). It was a pleasant, shallow (~10m), rocky reef with a mix of the usual reef dwellers, wobbegong sharks, and some pelagic species. You'd have to suspect a medical incident or serious equipment problem.

 

[Heat Miser]

He was my instructor for fundies. He was a very good instructor. I read he had just been certified as a tech 1 instructor.
He loved Australia and diving and was making a career out of it. My condolences to his family.
His death has left me with so many questions, undoubtedly all of his family, friends and students are asking the same things,

Yes its going to improve your diving, in my case I was negatively buoyant and using my hands to do a lot of finning. My RMV has come down from 24 litres per min to 18 litres per min. I feel more comfortable calculating turn pressures and dive planning. Stephen Ho was the instructor at Dive Center Manly ... he is a good a teacher ...... Personally, I wish I had watched the Gue.tv website before hand and practiced some of the drills in a wing. Also it's easier in gear your comfortable with. The pace over 4 days is fast and there is not a lot of time to repeat thing you don't get straight away.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

https://www.facebook.com/90631801300/posts/10158185148051301/?substory_index=0

 

[Tripp]

It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the tragic loss of Stephen Ho, a cherished member of our GUE community. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family, friends and loved ones. The facts surrounding his death are still being assembled with all support for this process being offered by our organization. GUE also has a team prepared to conduct an independent inquiry into the events surrounding this terrible event so that we can understand the decisions and actions involved along with the conditions surrounding them, with the goal to inform both organizational and community learning. It is important that we strive to learn from these tragic events and that we collectively consider the importance of the policies and procedures that have forged our community over these many years. These important aspects will be part of the coming weeks but, for the moment, let us all focus our attention on support for the investigation and upon Steve’s family and friends.

From the FB post. Well written.

 

[Lorenzoid]

GUE Instructor resumé

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Diving instructor dies in Sydney - Divernet

A British technical diving instructor who had settled in Australia has died during a rebreather dive off Shelly Beach in Manly, New South Wales.

Steve Ho, who had recently qualified as a GUE Tech 1 Instructor, was also a PADI Tec Trimix Instructor & Master Scuba Diver Trainer, a GUE CCR 1 rebreather diver and an Explorers Club Member.

He worked as assistant manager and technical manager at Dive Centre Manly, located in a suburb of north Sydney.

The incident occurred at around 2pm on 5 April. Ho died after being pulled onto rocks near Deadmans Reef at Manly, and according to a report in the Northern Beaches Advocate, which did not name him at the time, he was thought to have suffered a possible cardiac arrest.

A local freediver was seen waving for help while Ho, who had been using a rebreather, appeared to be unconscious. Nearby surfers helped to pull him onto a rocky platform at the base of a cliff. Police, ambulance crews and a rescue helicopter, fire & rescue crews and lifeguards responded to an emergency call.

Efforts by paramedics to resuscitate Ho at the site were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The police were investigating to produce a coroner’s report.

GUE described Ho as a full-time instructor and “an active presence in diving in Sydney, including the promotion of and the running of underwater clean-ups and environmental initiatives.”

 

[Tripp]

Is April 5 a typo? Was it meant to be August?