One Dead, Rescuer Seriously Injured - New Zealand

[DandyDon]

Diver drowns in north

A 47-year-old man has drowned off the beach at Mathesons Bay near Leigh, north of Auckland.

A police spokesman said emergency services were alerted about 11am on Sunday.

The man died after getting into difficulties while diving.

Police communications shift commander Inspector Ian Brooker said the man was diving with others and one man from the group, who took part in his rescue, had been flown to Auckland hospital in a serious condition.

"The deceased held a current dive ticket and a safety briefing was held before the dive," Brooker said.

"The possibility of a contributing medical event has been raised and will form part of the coronial enquiry."

Police said no further details would be released until next-of-kin have been notified.

An eye-witness, who declined to be named, said the incident involved scuba divers.

"One had a tarp over him after Fire Service preformed CPR for ages," he said.

The witness said a rescue helicopter had since left the scene.

 

[DandyDon]

It seems he was an American. More at Diver death: 'Everyone was in shock down on the beach' | Otago Daily Times Online News : Otago, South Island, New Zealand & International News

 

[clownfishsydney]

It seems to me that there are a stunningly high number of diving deaths in NZ considering the population of the country. Really strange.

 

[infieldg]

It seems to me that there are a stunningly high number of diving deaths in NZ considering the population of the country. Really strange.

We're pretty shocked, we've gone from 39 diving deaths nationwide in the past DECADE (including free divers) to NINE in the past four months - four of them scuba divers in the 2km stretch of mostly marine reserve I dive here in Wellington since Xmas

It's so extraordinary that the police national dive squad are doing roadshows/meetings, with surprisingly large diver turnouts but nothing to offer beyond "be better buddies" - which is obviously a good message, but given how hard it can be to get a buddy's attention at the best of times I'd prefer they said "train and equip yourself as if you were solo, but still take a buddy".

We'd hoped to get some insight into who was dying and why but despite the coroner attending and speaking he was unable to share any information whatsoever.

Here's an article written about the night I attended - the heading is misleading, yes the police stressed those factors but in relation to coronor's findings in the 39 previous deaths, NOT the recent spate ;
Dive Squad: Too many out of their depth

We've had an amazing summer and it has to be said Wellington can't often say that, it's been uncharacteristically great for diving - could it be as simple as more fair-weather divers getting out there?

EDIT - the most inland point of New Zealand is only 120km (75 miles) from the ocean so the water is incredibly accessible to all 4.5 million of us and we surely do love it... I guess our fatalities should be a higher percentage of total population on that basis but this is nuts

 

[lermontov]

We're pretty shocked, we've gone from 39 diving deaths nationwide in the past DECADE (including free divers) to NINE in the past four months - four of them scuba divers in the 2km stretch of mostly marine reserve I dive here in Wellington since Xmas

It's so extraordinary that the police national dive squad are doing roadshows/meetings, with surprisingly large diver turnouts but nothing to offer beyond "be better buddies" - which is obviously a good message, but given how hard it can be to get a buddy's attention at the best of times I'd prefer they said "train and equip yourself as if you were solo, but still take a buddy".

We'd hoped to get some insight into who was dying and why but despite the coroner attending and speaking he was unable to share any information whatsoever.

Here's an article written about the night I attended - the heading is misleading, yes the police stressed those factors but in relation to coronor's findings in the 39 previous deaths, NOT the recent spate ;
Dive Squad: Too many out of their depth

We've had an amazing summer and it has to be said Wellington can't often say that, it's been uncharacteristically great for diving - could it be as simple as more fair-weather divers getting out there?

EDIT - the most inland point of New Zealand is only 120km (75 miles) from the ocean so the water is incredibly accessible to all 4.5 million of us and we surely do love it... I guess our fatalities should be a higher percentage of total population on that basis but this is nuts

For Overseas readers let me start by saying New zealand is a very outdoors conscious group -fishing hunting, skiing hiking etc and its almost a culture of do it yourself self taught mindset where most guys are happy to 'give it a go'
I think we can be too casual in many ways not wanting to be seen as fussy or over protective, wanting to be ' one of the guys'
When you consider the National slogan of 'she'll be right ' its hard it get those who have been diving for seafood for a decade to address ideas such as safety stops, going too deep for their credentials etc Ive been diving a short time and I've noticed the large majority of recreational divers have very poor understanding. Im not sure why they disregard obvious issues such as buayoncy and weighing. Im reluctant to go cray diving on charters any more- Im happy to use the buddy system but for some reason when people go cray diving or the like its every man for himself!

I suspect that part of the training in NZ is too easy - I was taken aback at how easy it was to get my AOW - Reading some of the letters on scubaboard from overseas divers are wondering if they are ready after 50+ dives? maybe due to litigation concerns in USA companies are very conservative and make divers scared theyre going to die if they dont get properly trained -maybe they are right?

Like infield id like to know more details is it fluke or is there a systemic problem

 

[infieldg]

I was taken aback at how easy it was to get my AOW

So true, I passed my AOW on my TENTH dive, and became a Master Scuba Diver(tm) just 9 months after my first OW dive with only 59 dives under my belt, how ridiculous is that - I've done a bunch of tdi courses and some cool dives since but I STILL wouldn't call myself advanced yet because nothing BAD has happened to me yet. I'm still waiting to see how I handle it.

Im reluctant to go cray diving on charters any more- Im happy to use the buddy system but for some reason when people go cray diving or the like its every man for himself!

Did my first ever cray/lobster dive over New Years, was off a charter boat too and it was exactly as you described it. I spent the whole time following my buddy around, she was great tho she'd point easy ones out to me and wait til I'd broken their feelers off lol but afterwards she said how nice it was to have a buddy hang around like it had never happened before. Not the safest diving for sure but tasty.

 

[judyo1]

It seems to me that there are a stunningly high number of diving deaths in NZ considering the population of the country. Really strange.

Easy access to the water, weather & conditions that change rapidly, challenging diving and biggest of all, the aforementioned "she'll be right, mate" component of the national psyche.

 

[Nettie-NZ]

Gotta agree with you guys.

The high number of diving deaths this summer worries me, but unfortunately I'm not surprised. Our kiwi attitudes - 'she'll be right' mean that diving within your limits is often ignored - and a good proportion of time divers aren't even aware of what their limits should be! - Often hunter-gather types who did an OW course yonks ago so they could get their bottles filled and have done no training since.

Unfortunately diving in NZ conditions isn't easy warm water diving. I just wish that the kiwi psyche would mature a bit a times so I don't have to listen to so many 'I've been to 50m' type stories and have me wonder how much of a temporary kiwi they are.

I love the kiwi 'can-do' attitude... ..but not when it puts people in danger. Maybe we need a 'ghost chips' campaign for water safety?

 

[Bert van den Berg]

New Zealand has a permanent population of about 4.5 million people but 2.8 million tourists visit New Zealand every year. It is very normal for overseas divers to outnumber locals ten to one on commercial dive boats. Many of these tourists are "vacation divers" and/or not used to the often challenging conditions with colder and rougher waters. I do not know what percentage of the diver accidents involve locals but will try to find out.

 

[judyo1]

New Zealand has a permanent population of about 4.5 million people but 2.8 million tourists visit New Zealand every year. It is very normal for overseas divers to outnumber locals ten to one on commercial dive boats. Many of these tourists are "vacation divers" and/or not used to the often challenging conditions with colder and rougher waters. I do not know what percentage of the diver accidents involve locals but will try to find out.

My understanding is that most of the deaths this summer have been kiwis not diving on commercial dive boats....