TOWNSVILLE, Australia (23 Oct 2003) -- AN autopsy will be carried out today on the body of a 26-year-old American woman who died yesterday after getting into trouble while diving near the wreck of the Yongala. Townsville Police Inspector Clare Murphy said last night the woman, who was holidaying with her husband, was aboard the Mike Ball Dive Expeditions' vessel Spoil Sport which picked up passengers in Townsville on Monday night. "A group of tourists was diving near the Yongala wreck earlier in the day (yesterday) when one of the swimmers got into trouble under water," she said. "As a result of that trouble, a 26-year-old female drowned." The Spoil Sport last night docked at the Quarterdeck where the woman's body was removed and taken to Townsville Hospital. Detectives last night interviewed 50 people -- all of the passengers and crew -- from the dive boat. Police communications co-ordinator Sergeant Nick Sellars said there were no suspicious circumstances with the death and a report would be prepared by water police for the coroner. The incident was the second death from the Spoil Sport in less than a year. A dive instructor, 28-year-old Taichi Wakikaido, of Japan, died after failing to surface from a duck-dive while snorkelling at Flinders Reef on December 14 last year. Spoil Sport shark feeding accident: On Christmas eve 2000, Mike Ball staff instructor Brad Taylor suffered severe injuries in a shark feeding accident. | | INVESTIGATION: Townsville police question passengers, crew onboard Mike Ball 'Spoil Sport' He had been working with Mike Ball Dive Expeditions for 18 months and was based in Cairns. On February 15 this year the Queensland Rescue helicopter airlifted two men from the vessel at Flinders Cay, 132 nautical miles northeast of Townsville, after a 49-year-old man suffered suspected decompression sickness and a 35-year-old crew member suffered a broken finger. On Christmas Eve 2000 a 23-year-old dive instructor from the Spoil Sport, Brad Taylor, was bitten by a grey reef shark during a shark feeding session at Scuba Zoo on Flinders Reef. Mr Taylor suffered severed forearm tendons in the incident. SOURCE - Townsville Bulletin |
