NORTH WALES, UK (27 Feb 2003) -- AN inquest into the death of a man who died while diving at a controversial North Wales quarry on December 19, 2001, will be held today. Jason Barrass, 32, from Preston, was the third of five victims in just over a year at the Dorothea Quarry, near Talysarn1. Mr Barrass, diving with a five-strong party from the Blackpool area, was a member of the Neptune Total Dive Centre in Barton, Lancashire. The party went scuba diving but something went wrong and Mr Barrass got into difficulty. His body was later recovered by a team of specialist police divers. The North West Wales coroner, Dewi Pritchard Jones, will hear evidence into the circumstances of Mr Barrass' death at Caernarfon. Mr Barrass' death came just a day after Mick Gott, 52, of Glossop, was killed in a similar accident at the quarry, and just three weeks after Henry James August Le Coz died when he failed to surface. Since Mr Barrass' death two other divers have died in the quarry. Paul Amison, 32, from Stoke-on-Trent died last February and Dennis Dransfield, 57, of Oldham died last November. Inquests into their deaths are due to be heard during the next few weeks. | | Jason Barrass died scuba diving at the Dorothea Quarry. Gwynedd councillor Les Jones has called for quarry to be compulsorily purchased by the local authority. He believes a proper diving centre is needed with safety officers, changing rooms, a first aid room and a decompression chamber. But others, including Caernarfon MP Hywel Williams, have called for an immediate ban on diving at the disused quarry. The owner of the quarry, Glynn Small of Capital Landfill Restoration (Bath) Ltd says he has tried telling divers to keep away from the pool, without success. Each safety diver is equipped with an independent lift bag that can be quickly attached to Streeter's wet suit to rocket her to the surface if something goes wrong. A rescue boat with an emergency physician and life-support equipment will be standing by, with a shore ambulance and hyperbaric chamber on alert. |
