US Expat fatality in Vanuatu

[infieldg]

What is "deep into the wreck"? The day I did that dive, I got screwed over by the guide so I can't say mine is representative of what it should be, but we didn't get more than 5m in the wreck. The "newbs" with us thought they went very deep both in terms of depth and into the wreck, while we just had to turn around to see the exit and the entrance isn't deep at all (compared to the rest of the wreck).
I'm not saying it's the same for you, but I'm surprised they'd lead you that deep into the wreck. OTOH, except for the engine room, I didn't feel like it was complicated to get out of the wreck at any time...

So true, every penetration dive had heaps of well lit exits, very relaxing place to dive!

My night dive was very shallow, entering at 29.4m and ascending to the viewing spot at 23.1m and being sidemount with two of my own torches with my own batteries, a reel and kitchen sink, I was totally relaxed about it so I didn't mean for "deep in the wreck" to be taken literally sorry, more that it was "deep in the wreck for a dive where after an immediate left turn and steep ascent you can only see a green glow on the arm that is physically towing you by your left wrist for 2mins 30secs before carefully placing it onto something to hang onto" deep

Even with torches on it took 1min 20secs to exit and we weren't sight-seeing.

Bloody great dive though

 

[ZephyrNYC]

Vanuatu diving death - 'preventable tragedy' | Radio New Zealand News'


'Vanuatu diving death - 'preventable tragedy'


Updated at 4:24 pm on 18 December 2015

A coroner's report has found the death of a tourist in Vanuatu, who died after an ill-fated diving trip two years ago, was avoidable.
The local operator's dive processes were found to be well short of international safety standards:
Laila Osunsade, a New Zealand resident, drowned while diving off one of the island's main diving attractions in May 2013 - the wreck of the American wartime troopship, the SS President Coolidge.

Photo: Photo NZ​

The American national's body was sent back to New Zealand where the death was referred to the coroner.
Coroner H B Shortland has made a number of recommendations from what he describes as a "preventable tragedy".
The report found some of the dive equipment provided to the 33-year-old by Aquamarine Santo contributed to her death; some of it needed servicing, and she was given ill-fitting dive booties and fins.
It also found she was overweighted by at least 9 kilograms which affected her buoyancy.
The coroner says while the recommendations are not binding on authorities in Vanuatu, observing them could only enhance the tourism industry there." '

 

[clownfishsydney]

A Vanuatu newspaper article on the death: Mother of President Coolidge diving fatality wants action taken - Vanuatu Daily Post: News

 

[Storker]

Quite a bit of handwaving by the president of the VSOA, there...

 

[Peter69_56]

Too much flag waving and vested interest to clearly see the issue at hand. Resolving the root cause of the incident would put to bed most divers concerns and allow tourism to increase.

Flag waving and ongoing self justifications do nothing more than scare people off. Not what anyone wants on either side of this issue.

 

[ZephyrNYC]

A Vanuatu newspaper article on the death: Mother of President Coolidge diving fatality wants action taken - Vanuatu Daily Post: News

From my understanding of the VSOA president's statements, he's stating that the only reason that the reg was corroded is because it sat in the police station for 10 months. How could he possibly know that it wasn't corroded or damaged before, while being used by Laila in the water? I think I read elsewhere that at least one witness reported or complained about a dirty reg from that dive shop at the time.

 

[dab]

I dove with Aquamarine back in 2010 or 2011. I was there for 10 days, and did 2 technical dives per day, 14 dives total. Having done deep penetrations below 110 meters here in the Great Lakes, I was very comfortable on (and in) the wreck and we covered it from bow to stern. I had no complaints with my guide, but everyday I heard nothing but grumbling and complaining from all of the guides about Rehan, which was awkward as a client. No question in my mind that Rehan was dollar driven, not service or customer driven. In the end, he took money from me and didn't provide what he said he would. He would never answer my emails after that. I only lost a few hundred dollars to him, but it's the principle that bothers me. No, I wouldn't dive with Aquamarine again.

 

[DandyDon]

Excerpting from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11579980 - hit link for full report

The coroner agreed with a New Zealand Police National Dive Squad investigation that found Dr Osunsade's death was because of poor-quality dive gear and poor oversight.

 

[Patoux01]

And again, no one is making the recommendation that a diver should be competent (and maybe fit?)...

 

[clownfishsydney]

Again, if you want to read the full story as well as see the NZ Coroner's Report and the NZ Police Report, go to my web site http://www.michaelmcfadyenscuba.info/viewpage.php?page_id=893.