TOWNSVILLE, Australia (24 Oct 2003) -- A 26-year-old Alabama woman visiting Australia on her honeymoon died in a scuba diving accident off the coast, police said Thursday. Christina Watson and her husband of 11 days were on a trip to the Yongala shipwreck, a world-famous dive site off the city of Townsville. Gabe Watson was pulled unconscious from the water late Wednesday morning and survived. Efforts to revive his wife failed. The couple from Hoover, Ala., arrived in Australia on Oct. 15. "(Her husband is) still in Townsville making arrangements for transportation of the body," Townsville Senior Constable Paul Campbell said. The results of a post-mortem held Thursday afternoon were not immediately available. Police and workplace health and safety officers will investigate the death. The woman is the fourth American to die in north or central Queensland waters in the past 12 months: three were divers and one was a snorkeler. The sea off northeastern Australia is home to the Great Barrier Reef coral chain and is a magnet for hundreds of thousands of tourists and divers each year. Dive operators in Queensland state were ordered to improve their safety practices in the aftermath of the disappearance of U.S. divers Tom and Eileen Lonergan off the Great Barrier Reef in January 1998. | | Gabe and Tina Watson An inquiry found the couple, from Baton Rouge, La., either drowned or were eaten by sharks after being left behind by their dive boat. The dive industry defended the sport's safety. "It is an adventure activity," Dive Queensland vice president Peter Boundy said. "Diving is not dangerous at all if people are being taught correctly and adhere to the safety regulations, but accidents do happen." SOURCE - Reuters |
