NORTHUMBERLAND, UK (27 Oct 2004) -- An experienced deep-sea diver drowned after running out of air, an inquest heard today. Alan Anslow died after getting into difficulties off the Northumberland coast. Eyewitnesses described the harrowing moments as they fought to save the life of the project worker. The inquest heard how the married father-of-two had switched to his emergency air cylinder, which only had a limited supply of oxygen. Fellow divers said they knew the diving instructor was in trouble because they saw a large number of bubbles escaping from his air cylinders shortly before his death on July 2. Diver Mark Waterworth said he and Mr Anslow were waiting at a depth of five metres in order to avoid decompression sickness – known as the bends – when he noticed something wrong. "I turned to see where Alan was. He was just inches from me and he grabbed hold of me," the HGV driver told the inquest. "I felt something was up then. Usually he gave an okay signal with his hand but he did not. He just nodded his head. "His eyes were wide open so I grabbed him and started going to the surface. "When we got to the surface he just said 'No air'. "I started to get my spare regulator for him but Alan was clambering all over me. We started going back down again so I tried getting my weight belt off. "I was trying to get hold of Alan but the next thing that happened was that my face mask got knocked down. I pulled that off and tried to stay on the surface. "I started shouting 'help' to the boat but as I was trying to stay on the surface Alan went under." Mr Waterworth added: "Everything was working fine with Alan's equipment as far as I was aware. Something happened but I do not know what." Fellow diver Mark Smith told the inquest, at Wansbeck General Hospital, that he saw a large number of bubbles escaping from Mr Anslow's oxygen tanks. | | "He was getting into some difficulties. There was a flow of air from his waist upwards," he said. Another diver, Emma Sidebottom, added: "Alan looked like he was panicking." When Mr Anslow did not surface a large-scale air and sea search was launched and his body was later pulled from the sea. He was formally declared dead at Wansbeck General Hospital. The 51-year-old, from Mulmont Close in Oldham, Greater Manchester, had been among a party of seven exploring the Somali, which is off the Seahouses coast. Pc Peter Horrabin, a diving expert with Northumbria Police, told the inquest that it was not possible to say why Mr Anslow switched to his emergency oxygen supply because his aqualung has never been recovered. "Looking at this with the new piece of information there would not have been enough air to inflate his dry suit or breath," he said. The officer was speaking after it emerged during the inquest that Mr Anslow had switched to his emergency cylinder. A post-mortem showed the cause of his death was drowning. Recording a verdict of accidental death, Deputy North Northumberland coroner Tony Brown said: "It has not been possible to establish what went wrong with Mr Anslow's equipment but it is clear he got into difficulty on July 2. "It appears everyone with Mr Anslow did everything possible to save him." The coroner added: "I would like to extend my sympathies to Mr Anslow's wife and her family." His wife, Judith, and daughters Rachel and Kathryn, were too upset to speak afterwards. SOURCE - PA News |
