WHITSUNDAYS, Australia (25 May 2008) — Police in Australia have launched an investigation to find out why the captain of the Pacific Star dive boat delayed notifying officials that two scuba divers were missing. British national Richard Neely, 38, and American Alison Dalton, 40, started their 50-minute dive on Friday afternoon after lunch on the Pacific Star but were not reported missing until 5:30pm. Police said the captain and crew of the Pacific Star, along with other tourists on the 65-ft catamaran, searched for the divers for more than three hours but failed to radio for help until they gave up searching and started back to shore. With little time left to search before darkness, authorities rushed to get helicopters and boats to Gary's Lagoon near Bait Reef where the couple had been scuba diving. Fixed-wing aircraft with night-search equipment also assisted but found no trace of the divers. Meanwhile, Neely and Dalton floated in the darkness, tied themselves together, huddled to stay warm and talked to keep awake. At about 9:30pm, the couple spotted one of the search helicopters for the first time. Alison Dalton (left) helped calm down scuba diving instructor Richard Neely (right) who is terrified of sharks."The didn't see us," Neely told reporters. "It was devastating to see them go round in their search pattern and then fly off into the distance." Several times between 9:30pm and 2:30am, the couple again saw search helicopters and aircraft. "When the choppers stopped flying around at about 2.30 to three o'clock in the morning - we had no choppers for about three hours because the weather was so bad - both of us lost it. We had a lot of silence. Both of us would catch each other with our eyes shut, about to give up," Neely said. "I really didn't think I could make it through the three, four, five o'clock time. Nor did Ali. We were hallucinating, seeing everything from robots to reefs and colourful fish in the sky and speaking a bit of gibberish." Finally at about 8:40am, volunteer Andrew Barker spotted the couple from a helicopter drifting about nine miles northwest of Bait Reef. "The couple were lying on their backs, flippers in the air out of the water," Barker told reporters. "They were waving frantically . . . [then] they were blowing kisses at us." The missing pair of tourist divers were finally rescued nearly 24 hours after they disappeared. Scuba diving accidents that involve the separation of divers from dive charter boats are extremely dangerous and often result in fatalities. | | Police investigators want to find out why the captain and crew of the Pacific Star tourist charter boat delayed for three hours alerting authorities divers were lost at sea. The helicopter crew winched the divers aboard and took them to Hamilton Island for a preliminary medical check and then on to hospital in Townsville. Tom and Eileen Lonergan A hauntingly similar scuba diving accident at the Great Barrier Reef in 1998 led to the deaths of husband and wife Thomas and Eileen Lonergan, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after they were left at sea by the MV Outer Edge dive charter boat. That tragedy was turned into the 2004 Open Water movie about sharks attacking a scuba diving couple left at sea. Neely told reporters he was also terrified of being attacked by sharks. "I truly thought we were going to die. Sharks were on our mind the entire time - but neither of us mentioned the 'S' word,' said Neely. "We just had to stay positive and calm to help each other through the ordeal and not think about being eaten alive." Police investigation Police said they will interrogate everyone who was aboard the Pacific Star charter boat, including the captain, crew and tourists, as part of their investigation to determine why there was a three-hour delay in alerting authorities of a missing diver emergency. "The local CIB are working with our Water Police, together with members from Workplace Health and Safety," Police Superintendent Shane Chelepy said. "We are going to take statements from everyone onboard that vessel, then there will be the normal issues of taking possession of all of the equipment for further examination." © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORKCDNN RELATED NEWSAUSTRALIA - Missing tourists rescued after spending night in oceanAUSTRALIA - Two tourists missing after scuba diving accident in WhitsundaysAUSTRALIA - German tourist dies scuba diving at Bait ReefSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
