PLACENCIA, Belize (26 Oct 2005) -- An American tourist died and three other scuba divers are in critical condition after drifting at sea for three days off the coast of Belize. Abigail Brinkman, 28, of Columbus, Indiana, and three companions -- John Bain, Nancy Masters and Yutaka Maeda -- went missing on Saturday during a scuba diving trip organized by Advanced Diving of Placencia. The four scuba divers were diving at Gladden Spit some three to four miles off Silk Caye when the engine on the "Advanced One" dive boat failed and the small vessel started to drift out to sea. Despite repeated warnings from divemaster Henry "Bee Bee" Tucker who urged everyone to stay with the boat, the group ignored his advice and attempted to swim back to the island. "I could still see the cayes, so we figured we could still get our dive equipment on and we could dive it," survivor Nancy Masters told reporters. "I felt that we could swim it anyway, but once we got into the water, we realized that the waves were much larger than they appeared." As the four divers struggled in very rough seas, Advanced Diving owner Vance Cabral, who was leading a group of six snorkelers that left the boat when it arrived at Silk Caye, noticed that "Advanced One" was without power and drifting. Cabral then swam four miles from Silk Caye to Little Water Caye where he notified rangers stationed there of the missing persons emergency. The rangers immediately launched a search for the missing boat and divers. After the rangers failed to find any sign of the missing boat and divers on Saturday night, the Belize Defence Force (BDF) launched a massive air and sea search that commenced at dawn on Sunday. Searchers were unable to find the missing divers on Sunday but divemaster Tucker, still on the "Advanced One" dive boat, had drifted north until he was within sight of Northeast Caye on the Glover's Reef Atoll. After more than 20 hours without water, Tucker decided he too should swim for it. | | Med student Abby Brinkman died on a scuba diving trip with Advanced Diving of Placencia Belize. At about 1:00am on Monday morning, Tucker made it to Glover's Reef and joined the search. Finally, late on Monday afternoon, searchers found the missing divers and the body of Abby Brinkman, the one diver in the group who was not wearing a wetsuit. According to unconfirmed reports, small craft warnings had been issued on Saturday, the day the divers left port, and the "Advanced One" dive boat had no water, no radio, no emergency signaling equipment and both divemasters had suspended licenses. In late December last year, CDNN reported that the same dive boat capsized in rough seas near South Water Caye with 10 divers onboard. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
