Two divers missing Whitsunday Islands

[DandyDon]

Folks might be interested in doing a search on the Sidney Morning Herald, the key words are

Dalton rescue

The Saturday issue is rather interesting.

I had hell finding it; you mean this one? Divers will pay for rescue: agent - National - smh.com.au

They need to inform their agent that DAN doesn't pay for searches.

A Florida diver was just found after 20 hours at sea, but he didn't make big news. Thats requires a pretty GF and a trip to the GBR I suppose...

 

[SCUBAJENNIFER]

Folks might be interested in doing a search on the Sidney Morning Herald, the key words are

Dalton rescue



The Saturday issue is rather interesting.

This one?

How to save: saga of divers' sink fund
Email Printer friendly version Normal font Large font Daniel Emerson
May 29, 2008 - 3:44PM

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After six days of accusations, blame and financial promises, the reality of last weekend's dramatic scuba rescue has emerged.

The Australian taxpayer will pay for the entire cost of the search and rescue and not a cent will be covered by the divers' insurance.

The Asia-Pacific executive director of the Divers Alert Network, John Lippmann, confirmed to smh.com.au today that while Briton Richard Neely and Allyson Dalton were insured to the tune of US$100,000 each, none of that would go towards their rescue.

He said the divers were only ever covered for the cost of their rescue from Great Barrier Reef waters and medical expenses associated with the 19 hours they spent in the water - not the cost of the far more expensive search.

"I had discussions with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, explained the level of cover that was available to the divers and explained DAN's willingness to cover those expenses promptly," Mr Lippmann said.

"However it appears that since AMSA is a signatory to certain international treaties obliging countries to provide search services to visitors, I was told that a bill was unlikely to be forthcoming."

Several boats, seven helicopters and three fixed-wing aircraft searched for the pair, who left the lagoon where their dive vessel was moored on Friday afternoon.

A spokesman from one of the searchers, the CQ Rescue helicopter, on Monday estimated the cost of the rescue at up $400,000.

AMSA spokeswoman Tracey Jiggins said the authority would reimburse the companies it asked for help with the air search, while the cost of the sea rescue would be borne by Queensland Police.

"We are obliged under those agreements to provide a search and rescue service which is what we do," she said. "We don't try to reclaim money from any other agencies."

Celebrity agent Max Markson, enlisted by the divers to handle the multiple media offers which have flooded in since their rescue, promised on Monday that the rescue would be paid for by insurance.

Speaking from New York, where he was organising US television interviews, Mr Markson told smh.com.au today that Mr Neely and Ms Dalton still intended make a personal donation to the not-for-profit CQ Rescue helicopter to aid with its day to day operations.

He was not yet sure how much the donation would be.

"They haven't got a penny from anything yet," he said. "The Sunday Mirror has committed 5000 pounds so that will be coming, but they haven't seen anything yet."

Reports published in News Limited publications today quoted Ms Dalton as saying the dive boat operators Oz Sail should pay part of the rescue bill because it was its fault the divers got lost.

Oz Sail operations manager Ross Peters dismissed the suggestion it should pay.

"That's not the way it works," he said.

He repeated the company's claim that the divers were to blame for leaving the sheltered lagoon where the dive took place despite warnings.

CQ Rescue Helicopter spokesman Phillip Dowler said the service would be delighted to receive any donation from the pair.

 

[Scared Silly]

This one 31 May:

Rescued divers reject boat's log - National - smh.com.au

 

[SCUBAJENNIFER]

This is all I need to know about this pair...

The agent would not confirm the reports of a six-figure sum for his clients to speak to British media but has told British paper The Guardian that the rumoured $1.1 million fee was inflated.

He also told the paper that he was finalising contracts for interviews with Australian, American and English television networks and that "there might be a film or a book in the long term".

 

[almitywife]

......The Australian taxpayer will pay for the entire cost of the search and rescue .......

as an aussie - i dont particulary care

we pay taxes to keep the helicopters ready and staff trained and this one ended sucessfully with both divers found so win win. win for the divers and win for the crews that put their training into actual use

i said all along, provided they are innocent and didnt set this up then good luck to them and every cent they get paid for their stories (although spare me the movie please)

australia often comes to the rescue of distressed yatchies that are doing the round the world bit and they get into trouble down south. TWICE we had to rescue millionaire idiot Tony Bullimore and even after he wrote a book about it he still didnt pay a cent so why crucify these 2 divers

actually im kinda glad DAN didnt get stuck with the entire bill for this - its not like they are rolling in funds and they provide great service when needed

 

[DandyDon]

As said said said: The search will be paid for by Australia per international treaty...

This one 31 May:

Rescued divers reject boat's log - National - smh.com.au

This one this one this one, okay now I got it - this part?

TWO divers who last week spent a night lost at sea off the Queensland coast, have accused the dive company they were travelling with of falsifying the diving log to "cover their tracks".

Allyson Dalton and Richard Neely say data on four "dive computers" they wore show them entering the water at 2pm on Friday, May 23, for a one-hour dive, and surfacing at 3pm in accordance with their dive plan.

But the dive company, OzSail, says the dive started at at 3pm and the couple were not due to surface until 4pm. There was little time after that to search and organise a rescue effort before dark.

Now that is interesting - but how often do I forget to reset the time on my computers and cameras? :silly:

 

[Diver Dennis]

There is some dispute about what Allyson and Richard were told in the dive briefing. It appears that the general group was advised to stay within the lagoon. Allyson and Richard have stated that they were given a separate briefing on how to leave and re-enter the lagoon and it is not an uncommon or unreasonable practice to allow more experienced divers to explore beyond the general boundaries.

It seems that they left the lagoon and drifted with the current but were then unable to find a way to re-enter the lagoon. This can easily happen and does not mean that the divers were foolhardy or incompetent.

There is evidence that they entered the water at 1400 and surfaced at 1500 as planned. They weren't the only divers who surfaced outside the lagoon. Some other divers were picked up by a dinghy outside the reef, apparently not very far from Allyson and Richard. The latter claim that they saw this occurring and waved their "safety sausage" and blew a whistle to attract attention, unfortunately without success./QUOTE]

This is a quote from the "official-unofficial" DAN statement. Please correct me if I'm wrong but DAN states that the two were not the only ones to surface outside the lagoon and they were also given a separate briefing. This is the first I've heard of this and it seems to conflict with what I've heard so far.

 

[marinediva]

The time difference between Thailand and the east coast of Australia is three hours.
The time difference between Japan and the east coast is one hour.
Don't understand why all four computers were not submitted as evidence.
Unless they were of course exactly the same.

When I lived in Thailand I never bothered to change my time from Aussie time zone.
My back-up meanwhile ran on Thai time.

 

[redrover]

Uh, I tell my computer what the time is.

That Dalton Gang seems real fishy to me.

And I thought I tend to be naive.

Maybe it was a conspiracy. The OP wanted to go out of business. Figured telling one pair privately they could go where, and do what - no one else was to - and then wait a while after the return time and give them plenty of time to get out of sight, and then not go look there anyway, heck a boatload of other customers sure weren’t going to notice anything out of place – it would be a sure thing.

But then, why would he falsify the log?

"I would consider that our (dive) plan went as expected." does sound believable. Except they are omitting they realized they screwed up in making it; to go out of the lagoon and get into the current. Or maybe that actually was the plan and circles around to the Swiss Snorkel connection!

Now that does sound like a lot better movie plot than Open Water. Hope they get good diving footage of that hour spent in the lagoon. I’ll be sure to watch it when I run across it on TV.

 

[Geoff_H]

Rescued divers reject boat's log - National - smh.com.au

Other divers on the boat have now come forward to criticise the company and support the two divers' version.

Swiss snorkellers Xavier Zen-Ruffinen and Rachel Hauser wrote to public relations consultant Max Markson, who is managing the couple's media appearances, after reading media reports they believed were wildly inaccurate. They claimed the rescue alert had not been made directly after the crew noticed the divers' disappearance but at least two hours later.

"We estimate [the call] was around 5pm or something," Ms Hauser said yesterday. "We're confident about the time, but we don't know if he made a call before that, but I doubt it."

So the other guests are also claiming the company is lying.

Looks like ScubaJennifer's story is supported by nobody except the boat, who appear to be trying and failing to cover their arse.