BURNLEY, UK (15 July 2008) — A scuba diver tried desperately to save the life of an East Lancashire nurse who drowned on holiday, an inquest was told. Tina Baxter, 47, who lived at Primet Heights, in the Knott Lane area of Colne, died while on a diving trip in the Cayman Islands with her mother, Sylvia. The inquest, which took place at Burnley Magistrates Court today, heard how Ms Baxter, who worked as a matron covering Burnley General and Royal Blackburn Hospitals, joined around 18 other divers, as they set off at 8am from Don Foster's Dive in George Town. Ms Baxter, who took up diving seven years ago was a certified rescue and open water diver, was briefed on safety matters prior to the accident and that the instructor said she seemed "healthy and experienced." Donald Attridge was in front of Tina when she began to struggle and helped her to the surface as soon as she signalled that she was in trouble. The group of divers had descended around 74 feet when Ms Baxter began to struggle. Mr Attridge added: "I noticed Tina was not there, so I turned round at this point she was in a vertical position and it looked as if she was having difficulty breathing, so I went close to her mask and asked if she wanted to go up and she said yes. "I inflated my buoyancy device to take us both up at the same rate. "At this point we were both breathing and we went up at a reasonable rate. "She still had her regulator in her mouth when we started the ascent." Mr Attridge told the inquest that it would have taken around one minute for the pair to reach the surface and that he could not be sure when the regulator came out of her mouth as he was constantly looking up to check the surface was clear. Once Mr Attridge had alerted staff on the boat and they were helped aboard, Tina was given medical attention but had water in her lungs. The hearing was told that the pathologist in George Town said the cause of death was "asphyxiation due to drowning." Her equipment was checked and found to be in "good working order." Tina's father William Baxter, said: "She wouldn't have gone down if it the equipment wasn't working. She was a matron at work and everything had to be right - she was the same with everything and did safety at home." Coroner Richard Taylor said: "She was well-trained and healthy but inexplicably got into difficulty when the equipment was working perfectly. "Diving by its very nature is an inherently dangerous sport and it seems to me that she fell ill or became poorly and needed to get up to the surface very quickly. "I can't possibly speculate any more about what happened. "What we have is an experienced person in an area that is safe and ideal for diving. "I just think we will never know exactly what happened. I have little alternative other than to say her death was purely accidental and I am satisfied that Mr Attridge did everything he possibly could." | | Tina Baxter, 47, died while scuba diving in the Cayman Islands with Don Foster's Dive Cayman. Once considered the best scuba diving holiday destination in the Caribbean, the Cayman Islands has steadily declined in popularity during the past 10 years after a series of ill-advised decisions by local officials and tourism promoters turned off divers and forced large resorts and dive centers to close their doors. Confronted by the steady rise in "dive and stay" package rates, overdevelopment and crude attempts to blame fatal scuba diving accidents on the victims, discerning dive travelers are understandably looking for safe, affordable, eco-friendly alternatives to the Cayman Islands. Dive operators ignoring safety regulations Government officials in the Caymans want dive operators to comply with regulations aimed at enhancing diver safety, however, local dive shop owners led by strident tourism promoter Steve Broadbelt of Ocean Frontiers say that doing more to make scuba diving safer is just plain bad for business. One of the regulations requires dive boat operators to keep at least one crew onboard, a safety precaution that is common at many popular dive destinations around the world. The regulation under the Port Authority Law states: "At least one person shall remain on board and act as lookout on any dive–boat or other vessel whilst divers therefrom are down." Broadbelt, who owns a liquor store, dive shop and condo development and has repeatedly lied about scuba diving accidents in the Caymans, argues that all diving activities should be self-regulated to ensure the profitability of local dive shop owners. Government officials said Broadbelt is wrong and cited several recent scuba diving accidents that could have been prevented by simply requiring at least one qualified crew to remain onboard. While dive operators in the Cayman Islands continue to ignore safety regulations, Coast Guard regulations at other popular dive destinations require liveaboard and day charter dive boat captains to remain onboard at all times. |
