US Expat fatality in Vanuatu

[clownfishsydney]

A few things have happened in the past month or so. First, the New Zealand police seemed to be now involved. As NZ has a police liaison person in Port Vila (capital of Vanuatu), it seems that they have offered to assist and this has been accepted. Second, the NZ police have sent an officer (or officers) to Santo. There they spoke to all the other operators. Presumably this was to ask about procedures and perhaps the operator concerned. They did not speak to the operator as he was away in Australia trying to advertise his business to shops (so I have been told). I presume that this was a deliberate timing by the police.

As to what is happening now, I have no idea. I have emailed the police concerned but received no response. If I hear anything more, I will update the post.

 

[clownfishsydney]

The New Zealand Coroner's report into Laila's death was released today (16 November 2015). It is embargoed for two days so I cannot at this stage divulge its contents. However, needless to say that my thoughts at the time I investigated it were 100% correct. I will update this page once I have had a chance to summarise it and also update my web site and put the report and the accompanying police report on it. For now, I will put a copy of Laila's dive computer profile from the fatal dive in this post. It shows clearly what happened. Depth in metres of course.

I will be happy to answer any questions on this matter after 18 November 2015 (Australian time).

 

[wgw04024]

Not enough deco time? I don't have anything to look at atm, but that looks like alot of time at 40 meters.

 

[catone]

So she passed out at 13 minute mark at 34 meters and sank. The little blip at 15 minute mark is either a seizure or an attempt from the dive guide's part to move/check the diver. She was likely dead at 17 minute mark when she supposedly dived back down.
At least that's how I see it.

 

[wgw04024]

So what happened between 16 minutes and 48 minutes? I assume the end of the profile is her being brought up by guides/buddies?

 

[catone]

Yes, she was just lying dead where she sank until they took her up.

 

[wgw04024]

Ah ok. Then i don't understand 'it clearly shows what happened'.

 

[clownfishsydney]

I will detail later once the embargo is over, but catone has it exactly.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Ah ha. I see it (after reading more carefully), well I think I do. Laila was supposed to have been seen outside the wreck and re-entering. However Euarts door is apparently at 23m her DC clearly shows she never returned to that depth. Thus I presume they go to the Dr's office and exited - then got separated inside the wreck for some reason. The reports. of her being outside the wreck and going in are thus false. Her torch was off (perhaps trying to see external light to guide herself out? She had gas but no reg. I guess this could either be lost by convulsions or relaxation at death. The tanks was tainted. From the options on Michael's website option 4 or 5 are the most likely meaning the Guide didn't tell the whole truth. I'm guessing that there is still some embargo given it was suggested the information could be published a month ago

 

[Wookie]

Even worse than that. From 16 minutes when she stopped moving to 48 minutes when she ascended, no one noticed she was missing. We heard on page 1 that these are 20 minute dives always with conservative deco. She went missing when she should have been under the supervision pf the dive guide. At the worst, he might have noticed she was missing, cleared his deco to look for her on the surface, and signaled shore/boat support that he had a missing diver, but that doesn't take 32 minutes. Trust me on this one, when a diver disappears, an alert dive guide notices in less than a minute and has a search organized in a couple. The reason Michael can't talk about it is because someone is going to jail.

This is a problem when taking what are essentially recreational divers on deco dives. We teach deco in it's own class so everyone knows what to do in the event of a missing team member. You can't just paddle around for a minute, surface, and have a surface search. There are bunches of considerations like, the guide has just made a deco dive, will you put him back in? His tanks are drained, where will his air come from? What kind of surface support do we have available? Do the radios work, and are they on, and will help come if you call, or is the outboard broken and the other boat is out of commission? Taking recreational divers on a deco dive is against all agency guidelines, all insurance company rules and probably outside the scope of coverage, and just a bad idea all around, not because a recreational diver can't handle deco, but because they have no training to handle deco, so everyone is reliant on the dive guide to keep them alive. The system broke down here.