Not quite a diving accident...

[scuba_katt]

but interesting and still applicable.

A 22 year old british backpacker fell overboard from a tender (4.5metre rigid inflatable dinghy) in Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island (off Townsville in North Queensland) while coming back into shore from a 24 metre luxury motor cruiser a couple of evenings ago.....

She was struck in the head by the propellor of the 60hp motor and died instantly.

The real tragedy in all of this - the guy that was "driving" the dinghy was apparently over the legal drinking limit (0.05%) and has now been charged over the accident. Well guess what - so was she - they met each other that evening and had spent the night drinking together on the Luxury Motor Cruiser before heading back to shore when the accident happened. (Note, he also fell overboard during the incident).

So much for harmless fun hey? My sympathy to both of their families.... a terrible accident that could have been avoided.

 

[JMD123]

The real tragedy in all of this - the guy that was "driving" the dinghy was apparently over the legal drinking limit (0.05%) and has now been charged over the accident.

so you think "the real tragedy was the guy got busted?

 

[DandyDon]

The real tragedy in all of this - the guy that was "driving" the dinghy was apparently over the legal drinking limit (0.05%) and has now been charged over the accident.

so you think "the real tragedy was the guy got busted?

Okay, so some of us post with clumsy sentence structure. I certainly do. I think his intent was obvious, but in case not - the tragedy was that she was killed because they were both drunk. I survived a car wreck from such stupidity once as a kid, as did my passenger, only because I was into seat belts. We were both wearing them when I flipped the car.

While this is not a diving accident exactly, it does have a message to those of us who may find ourselves on boats. Do we blindly get on the boat, or do we try to assess the crew a bit.

I wonder tho, would you happen to know if they were sitting in the floor of the craft, or up on the edge? I've seen divers up on the edge of such inflatable dinghies while it was moving and thought OMG!

 

[idocsteve]

Okay, so some of us post with clumsy sentence structure. I certainly do. I think his intent was obvious, but in case not - the tragedy was that she was killed because they were both drunk.

I'm confused. If they were not both drunk then it would not have been a tragedy?

 

[DandyDon]

I'm confused. If they were not both drunk then it would not have been a tragedy?

If they had not been drunk, the accident probly wouldn't have happened.

 

[idocsteve]

Ok, but IF they were not drunk, and IF the accident still happened, would it have been a tragedy?

 

[DandyDon]

Ok, but IF they were not drunk, and IF the accident still happened, would it have been a tragedy?

You're not here for knowlege are you?

 

[idocsteve]

Not at the moment. Just trying to get my head to stop spinning.

 

[asmith5]

Regardless of the sobriety of the people involved, this was a tradgedy. It only adds to the sadness of the event because it might have been prevented.

 

[scubapolly]

Lets quite arguing semantics. I believe the point of the post is that drinking and driving is dangerous, and this can be increased when said driving is in a boat. The tragedy of this is that many belive because there aren't dockside sobriety checkpoints, drinking and boating isn't a problem.
Years ago I read a statistic (I really wish I could find the source again) that the most dangerous water sport based on number of fatalities is fishing due to the number of people that get hammered out on the water while fishing.
Some states have taken steps to deter drinking on the water, Florida for example has a zero tolerance policy on the water, however despite being on the water for everyday in the keys for 3 monts straight I have never seen a person pulled over for a sobreity check.