CAYMAN ISLANDS (17 Mar 2009) — Police identified the victim of a diving accident as Elizabeth Ann Palm of Wisconsin. Palm, who arrived in the Caymans on a cruise ship, died while diving with Red Sail Sports on March 4. Witnesses said the crew of the Red Sail Sports dive boat pulled Palm aboard and started CPR after they noticed she was floating unconscious at the surface. She was taken ashore and rushed to hospital, however, she never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at the medical facility. Palm's death was the second diving-related fatality in the Caymans this year. There were nine diving-related deaths in 2008. Murphy's Law or failure to comply with safety regulations? In response to concerns that there have been too many diving-related injuries and deaths in the Caymans, local tourism promoters usually blame the victims for "pre-existing medical conditions" or dismiss the accidents as unavoidable. "It's quite tragic but I don't think there's any given reason why we've had a lot this year (2008)--I think it's just Murphy's Law," said Rod McDowall, Operations Manager of Red Sail Sports, which owns Tortuga Divers. Trina Christian, Executive Director of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA), issued several press releases stating that local dive operators go beyond "what is required by regulation". But liquor store owner and developer Steve Broadbelt, a strident anti-regulation zealot and dive industry insider who also owns the Ocean Frontiers dive shop and heads CITA's Watersports Committee, says dive operators in the Cayman Islands typically ignore government regulations aimed at enhancing diver safety. One of the government safety regulations they ignore requires dive boat operators to keep at least one crew onboard, a safety precaution that is considered standard operating procedure at most 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 said he and other local dive operators refuse to comply with the regulation because they "object to the government telling them how to run their businesses" and because such regulations have the potential to make their dive businesses unprofitable. While Broadbelt's statements leave little doubt that dive operators in the Caymans are cutting corners to enhance profitability, scuba diving rates there remain significantly higher than increasingly popular Caribbean dive destinations such as Dominica, Honduras and St. Lucia. | 
