Tourist dies in New Caledonia during a "Discovery Scuba" dive

[super7]

I would just like to place a few comments on this tragique accident where a Japanese tourist died. His poor wife was in the water at the same time and was taken to hospital in extreme shock. This incident is once again in the local papers as Raoul Monthouel was judged for manslaughter on December 31st. The court has asked for a sentence of 18 months in prison and for Raoul Monthouel to be banned from working in the dive industry. We will know the outcome on the 2nd of March. There are a few comments that I would like to make regarding this incident. Firstly, the diver was not participating in a PADI DSD course. It was a one off dive where the diver should never have been out of the hands of an instructor. There was no prior training at all. For information, Monthouel was expelled permanently from PADI many years ago. He is also running a dive centre without the necessary qualifications and authorisations. The instructor was a young japanese woman who was working illegally with a tourist visa. She had not worked in the industry for several years. The victim was completely out of air and the tank was out of test with approximately 1 cup of oil inside (possibly a bad filter on the compressor). The BCD was in poor condition with a serious air leak. He was wearing an 8kg weight belt with a 10 liter steel tank. His wife had also run out of air and apparently the instructor had trouble trying to handle the both of them. It was her fifth dive that day and she was tired. The conditions were not good with poor visibility and heavy chop due to a strong wind. He simply sunk and drowned as he didn't know how to dump his weight belt. His lungs were full of water. Most of this information has been published in the newspapers. What is really amazing is the fact that Monthouel continues to work as though nothing has happened. It was his third serious accident with Japanese tourists in the past 2 years. Stories like this are really quite scary and very bad for the industry!

As a Japanese diver living in Japan, I'm quite surprised that these information has not made its way into the Japanese media, especially the dive magazines.

 

[harmony]

I beleive that there were several articles in the Japanese press, including a headline saying that our destination is dangerous. As I already said, it is not good for our image. The Japapnese consul here in Noumea is very upset that he is still on the water. This company is still finding customers through internet. The agents no longer work with him. He has a web site which he passes off as a portal on diving in this country. He listed all of the other dive centres (without our consent) making us look very small. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to do anything about it. He just laughs at us and the government doesn't seem to know what to do about him. I don't know if this sort of thing happens in other countries. Internet is a fantastic marketing tool, however, it can be used dishonestly as well.

 

[ScubaSteve]

.............Internet is a fantastic marketing tool, however, it can be used dishonestly as well.

This is very true but this is a fact of reality today.

 

[Tricia]

OK, I Googled this guy and found his website:

raoul monthouel noumea diving new caledonia club med commercial diving

Oh dear Lord, there is SO much I could say here, most of it ugly. I'm torn between the 1950s style military photo where he looks like he's going into a deadly battle in Indochine (except that he's in the south of France!) and the photo of him with fellow divers who are in full wetsuits, but he's only in a tiny Speedo.

I'll just stop right now before I get into trouble...

Trish

 

[harmony]

Trish, please let me thank you for your comments on Raoul Monthouel's website. This website claims to be a non commercial portal offering information to the diving community. He lists the other dive centres (mine included) without our authorisation. We have tried several times to have our names removed without success. This is just a ploy to gain credibility. He also makes our operations look completely insignificant compared to his own. For example, he calls our custom built 9m60 semi-rigid dive boat powered by twin 200 hp engines, a rubber dinghy. Cute! Actually, he is a dangerous person who acts like the ocean belongs to him. One of his favourite games is driving over our divers while they are near the surface. Last year 12 of my customers laid charges against him for this dangerous behaviour. He will be in court on the 31st of march this year on these charges. He will also be in court on the 2nd of march to receive the courts decision on the manslaughter charges. I believe that he also has a few other cases as well. Definitely not a nice person!

 

[drdaddy]

My condolences to this man and his family. I am so sorry that this outfit's misrepresentation has cost this man his life. I hope this will end this careless man's tourism career.

I'm glad to hear that this was not a PADI DSD

My son, a PADI Instructor, has refused to take some people out on the DSD. They had paid, gone through the instruction and pool part, but when they got to the water they (girls) were acting too silly. He took their equipment, left them on the beach, and he and a divemaster took the others out. My son says that he is responsible for those under his care and if he does not feel comfortable with their level of training (or maturity), he will call the dive. Most Instructors that I know share this perspective.

drdaddy

 

[Dadvocate]

One of his favourite games is driving over our divers while they are near the surface. Last year 12 of my customers laid charges against him for this dangerous behaviour.

Sounds to me like someone needs to have a boat spring a significant leak or to have his boat engines accidently get filled with honey instead of petrol.

Stranger things have happened when idiots take to this kind of competitive practice while expecting that there are no consequences. It is a miracle that he hadn’t already killed someone before this poor guy on the DSD.

I hope he gets what is coming to him for all of his inappropriate decisions.

Cheers!