CORNWALL, UK (8 Aug 2006) -- The world's leading diving course was criticised yesterday for allowing novices to progress too quickly, during inquests into the deaths of three men off the coast of Cornwall. The US-based Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) course, which is undertaken by a million people a year, was singled out for allowing beginners to gain an advanced level after just eight dives, four of them in a pool. A diving expert and a police diver said that people were risking death by going out with insufficient training and experience. Philip Bryson, head of the Diving Diseases Research Centre in Plymouth, told one hearing: "I do not believe that someone with eight dives should be classified as an advanced diver. It is madness." Peter Tapper, a diver with Devon and Cornwall police, said: "The whole process moves along far too quickly." Nigel Meadows, the Plymouth Coroner, was told that the common factors in the deaths last June were existing medical conditions, alcohol and a lack of experience. Mark Jackson, 41, from Southwell, Nottinghamshire, dropped his weights when his diving partner ran short of oxygen. He died from an embolism when air trapped in his lungs formed bubbles in his blood. In a separate incident, Albert Tythecott, 65, from Barnstaple, North Devon, suffered a cerebral gas embolism due to rapid decompression. Christopher Sidgwick, 40, of Chelmsford, Essex, drowned after he mistakenly used a reserve tank of air that ran out. A verdict of accidental death was recorded at all three inquests. PADI defended its course, saying: "Accidents do occur." | | Mark Jackson died when bubbles of air formed in his blood and reached his brain and heart after a rapid ascent from a dive on the wreck of the James Egan Layne.Editor's NoteAccording to Divers Alert Network (DAN), a diving insurance company based in the Cayman Islands that endorses 2-day "quickie" diver courses which include only two open water training dives, scuba diving is safe "...because more people die every year from lightning strikes, snake bites and bee stings..." CDNN RELATED TOPICSCDNN EDITORIAL - Unsafe at Any Depth: PADI Scuba DiverSCUBA FORUMSCUBA FORUM - "...it's actually quite amusing to monitor the lunacy that spills out of PADI's marketing department..."SCUBA FORUM - "...no certification agency that I know of offers the kind of comprehensive Open Water training that would take a month or more..." |
