WHITSUNDAY ISLAND, Australia — The owner and operator of OzSail's Pacific Star II dive boat, which left two divers at sea for 19 hours, has pleaded guilty. AP Vessel Management pleaded guilty in Proserpine Magistrates Court last Monday to one count of failing to discharge a workplace health and safety obligation and will be sentenced on August 27. CDNN previously reported that OzSail left behind scuba divers Allyson Claire Dalton and Richard John Neely who were diving at Paradise Lagoon off Bait Reef in the Coral Sea on May 23, 2008. The couple spent the night in the open sea and were finally rescued about 8:45 am on May 24. According to prosecutors, AP Vessel Management failed to manage its own dive safety system properly. The crew of OzSail's Pacific Star II failed to see the divers when they surfaced and failed to notify authorities of a missing diver emergency until two hours after Dalton and Neely were due back on the boat. Defence attorneys representing the dive boat operator argued that the boat crew did not alert authorities because they were confident they would find the missing divers. In November 2008, CDNN reported that a 25-year old tourist died while snorkel diving with OzSail near Whitsunday Island. | 
