DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines (10 May 2001) -- Yoshimasa Shiotani, 48, and Megumi Kono, 28, were reported missing and later found dead at a depth of 80 meters off the coast of Dumaguete, a popular dive destination for Japanese divers. Shiotani, a PADI 5-star dive shop course director, and Kono, a PADI dive instructor, were diving with the Joyous Marine Club, a Japanese owned dive center based at Santa Monica Beach near Dumaguete City. The two divers were part of a 7-diver group from Osaka. According to reports, Shiotani, Kono, another Japanese diver and Filipino dive guide, Macario Capa Jr., initiated a descent off Kan-alwang on their second deep dive of the day. All members of the dive team were diving on air. | | At about 50 meters Capa noticed that Kono looked uncomfortable and signaled the divers to abort the dive. Both divers ignored Capa and continued their descent with Capa following until they reached 60 meters. At that point, Capa finally aborted his descent and started for the surface. Although he survived the dive, he had to be evacuated to Cebu where he was treated for decompression sickness in a recompression chamber. On Sunday, three rescue teams led by Yoshiro Ejima, owner of the Joyous Marine Club, searched for the missing divers and finally found them at a depth of 80-81m. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
