GISBORNE, New Zealand — They "fought like hell", say the men who did everything they could in a desperate attempt to save the life of their young diving companion on Saturday. William Grant, 17, died after going diving 800 metres offshore from Tuahine Point. The owner of the boat, who did not want to be named, said he and his two friends in the dinghy never gave up their attempts to revive Mr Grant. Mr Grant was found floating on the surface after diving with them. The men quickly called for help and headed to shore. "We never gave up. The guys were saying when we were about halfway in 'he's gone', but I was like 'hell no'. "I wasn't going to stop because I've heard of people who have drowned and up to 50 minutes later they have come back. "If there was that chance . . . I wasn't going to stop until the ambulance guys got there," the man said. "We fought like hell. "It was terrible." The boat owner described Mr Grant as "big, huggable kid". "He was one of those teddy bear fellas. Real happy-go-lucky," he said. "He was just a lovely, lovely guy. "We send our sincerest and heartfelt condolences to the friends and family. "We did everything we could." The man wanted to stress that there were only three people in the boat when the incident occurred, not four as stated in (a previous article). "I would not want anyone to think that I had overloaded the boat or anything like that. Safety is so important to me," he said. | 
