TAURANGA, New Zealand (6 Dec 2005) -- Bay of Plenty Polytechnic has praised the "heroic'' acts of three of its students during a near-fatal scuba diving accident on Sunday. The Bay of Plenty Times reported yesterday that two Papamoa scuba divers were about 38m deep when one ran out of air, forcing both to rely on the other man's air supply. The student, who had shared his oxygen supply with his dive-buddy, subsequently almost lost his own life, nearly drowning in the ascent to the surface. There was concern both had suffered the bends from the rapid rise and both were airlifted to Auckland's Devonport Naval Base to undergo decompression treatment as a precaution. They returned home yesterday. The pair were diving with two other Bay of Plenty Polytechnic students as well as Tauranga couple Bert and Lyn Kalmer. The Polytechnic's marine and environmental management group leader, Dean Tully, said only one of the two divers in trouble was a student. The divers had only been down about five minutes when the other diver consumed all his air. "Our student shared his air with the other diver and started ascending with him to the surface. | | "Their air ran out upon ascent and they had to make a buoyant emergency ascent to the surface," Mr Tully said. "The diver who was initially in difficulty arrived at the surface in good condition and began mouth-to-mouth on the other diver (a student) who had passed out in the shallower waters." Two other students on the trip helped Lyn Kalmer on the boat while her husband Bert had rowed a dinghy out to assist. Mr Tully commended them for pulling the divers into the boat and into the recovery position, and calling Coastguard. "It shows how well the students' training has them prepared to assist in some rare and extreme situations." Mr Tully highlighted another diving accident at Lake Rotoma last week where marine studies staff performed CPR on a Hamilton diver. SOURCE - Bay of Plenty Times |
