here is what the Australian Press is saying about the accident

“The fit and healthy 46-year-old had spent Mother’s Day diving with another woman when she began experiencing difficulties shortly before 2pm.

They were returning from a recreational dive on a reef off the southern end of Terrigal Beach on the Central Coast and planned to come ashore at an area known as The Haven, where hundreds of people had gathered for Mother’s Day at the beach.

Her dive buddy told police the woman, from Wyoming, near Gosford, signalled urgently that she needed to get to the surface and get to shore.

But by the time the pair surfaced the woman had lost consciousness and also stopped breathing.

Inspector George Bradbury said her friend had tried to drag the woman to shore before screaming for help to onlookers.”

A Russian tourist was cut in half by a speedboat’s propellers off Pattaya coast yesterday afternoon and another tourist is missing, police said.

Police said at 2pm the two scuba divers were hit by a two engine speedboat near Koh Larn, about 300 metres off Pattaya’s coast in Bang Lamung district.

One of the victims, later identified as 40 year old Poliakov Oleg, was cut in half, while his companion is still missing.

Police said Oleg was visiting Koh Larn along with four family members and friends. He had been swimming in the scuba diving zone but resurfaced as the speedboat was passing by and was struck by the propellers.

Police arrested boat driver Ritthirong Phanla, 47, who said he was transporting ten tourists from Koh Larn to Pattaya Beach’s Hard Rock Cafe plaza when the swimmers suddenly surfaced and he was unable to stop.

Police initially charged Ritthirong with reckless driving, checked if he had a legal license and submitted him to tests for drug abuse and alcohol level, said Provincial Police Region 2 deputy chief Pol Maj Gen Suwira Songmetta.

The exercise was performed in pairs and was supposed to last about two and a half hours. After about an hour and a half, Azoulay took the role of lead diver of a pair. When his partner realized that he was not responding to routine contact that the two were to maintain about every minute, he followed emergency procedures involving bringing his partner to the surface of the water and fired a flare gun to mark their location.
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Within a short time, a boat arrived and began to administer medical treatment to Azoulay, who was unconscious. Resuscitation efforts continued in the ambulance on shore for some 40 minutes.

En route, a physician joined the team and treated Azoulay. The diver was pronounced dead before arriving at the hospital.

A senior navy source said the dive was a part of a series of routine training exercises and that initial findings indicated that there was nothing out of the ordinary in the exercises being performed at the time of the incident.

Commanders and medics were present as required and the divers were not exposed to unusual cold. There was also no indication during the training that Azoulay had any health problems.

The investigative panel appointed by Marom will attempt to determine the cause of Azoulay’s death, and will consider the possibility of a technical problem with his diving equipment, a health problem that had gone undiagnosed or human error. The investigation will also look into whether Azoulay’s training partner acted appropriately.

Marom has ordered a temporary halt to all diving training in the navy until Azoulay’s equipment is inspected.

Members of the unit undergo thorough medical testing before their enlistment as well as in the course of their training.

Before each exercise, they are questioned about the state of their health and before strenuous training, they undergo examination by a doctor.

Azoulay’s death was the first fatal training accident in the unit since 1995. Azoulay’s funeral will take place today in Zichron Yaakov. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of staff sergeant.

Creeeeepy. But the most creeeepy thing is that this crazy-m***-f**** only gets 1 year in Jail. After Tina Watson never returned from that scuba trip, and now, six years later, David Gabriel Watson (AKA: I’m a crazy , insane, killer) , who pleaded guilty to his wife’s manslaughter, has been sentenced to just a year in jail. (Yep, 1 year.. that means if he is lucky we will be free for the World Cup in South Africa in 2012!)

Tina Watson’s family is outraged by the light sentence. Her father, Tommy Thomas, said, “I’m sure that the entire Australian nation, as well as our country back home, shares in the shock at what we’ve just seen, because it’s a total injustice. … It’s ludicrous.”

Thomas told “Good Morning America” last week that he was certain Gabriel Watson had killed his daughter. “He had turned off her oxygen,” Thomas said. (To clarify you don’t turn off the oxygen, you turn off the Air – anyway)

Like the millions of viewers who saw media reports of the death, Thomas had seen the image of his daughter floating motionless in the water as captured by a tourist’s underwater camera. Watson is not in the picture. (Obviously not, the guy was already on the boat celebrating killing his wife). Amazing.

Gilnett had been diving with a 44-year-old Portland resident Bryan Southard on the afternoon of Sunday, March 22, near Sund Rock, when the two lost track of time and attempted to resurface with a deficient air supply.

Southard told investigators he checked his air and had less than the amount required for a safe ascent to the surface. As the pair ascended, Gilnett signaled she was out of air. Once they reached the surface, Gilnett panicked and was unable to release weight belts or inflate her buoyancy compensator, according to a report filed by the Mason County Sheriff’s Office.

Southard called for help and tried to hold on to Gilnett, but lost his grip in the rough water, according to police reports. Other divers in the area found Gilnett in about 20 feet of water a short time later.

Medics treated her at the shore and rushed her to Mason General Hospital. Gilnett was later transferred to Harborview Medical Center, where she died on March 23.

“She’s been diving since November and was a real part of our scuba family,” Estacada resident Cheryl Copeland said. “She was a warm, caring person and we are all really going to miss her.”

Hood Canal is a popular spot for scuba divers because it is home to an ocean environment without some of the challenges divers face in some coastal waters. The sheriff’s report indicates that Gilnett and Southard were enjoying the sea life in the area when they lost track of time.

“Diving in places along the Oregon coast can be daunting and unsafe for many divers,” Copeland said. “But the Puget Sound is a much safer environment as far as entering and exiting the water. It’s kind of a diver’s paradise. It was one of Jacques Cousteau’s favorite places to dive.”

Gilnett was employed at Providence Portland Medical Center and had worked there since 1992. She grew up on the north Oregon Coast and enjoyed hiking, camping, snowshoeing, skiing, traveling and scuba diving.

The Mason County Sheriff’s Office believes Gilnett’s death was accidental, but the case is still being investigated.

“This incident appears to be a tragic accident,” Mason County Sheriff’s Sgt. Brad Mandeville said.

Authorities told ScubaHerald the body has not yet been recovered and identified, however, they believe the remains are an American doctor from Miami, Florida, who disappeared while scuba diving at Blue Hole in 2001.

The divers, who found the body at a depth of three hundred and fifty-five feet, were working on a documentary film for a Polish television company.

They said the body had no head and parts of an arm and leg were missing, apparently eaten by sharks.

Due to the extreme depth, officials said recovering the body will be difficult.

Spiegel, a commercial dive student, was found 105 feet below the surface of the 40 Fathom Grotto in Northwest Marion County on Sunday at around 8:15 p.m.

On November 15 at approximately 3:46 a.m., the Marion County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from The Grotto, located at 9487 NW 115 Avenue in Ocala, in reference to a missing diver.

Spiegel was staying at a log cabin at the 40 Fathom Grotto with Matthew James Berry, 22, of Attica, Mich.; Nicole Wilkerson, 23, of Brooksville; Doug Masters, 24, of St. Augustine; and William Sanders, 29, of Garnerville, N.Y., when the group decided to take a late-night dive.

According to a report by Deputy Francisco Perez of the Marion County Sheriff’s Department, Masters, Wilkerson, Spiegel and Berry put on their scuba gear and went diving, leaving Sanders behind for safety reasons. The four divers, with the aid of a rope, went under water and descended about 104 feet.

Meanwhile, an inquiry has been launched in order to determine the circumstances surrounding what has been described as a rare diving accident.

Several witnesses have already been interrogated.

The accident has left the local diving industry in a state of shock.

Local diving club Nouméa Diving Manager Raoul Monthouël told local media on Wednesday the accident was all the more unlikely as every security precaution was observed, as usual, for this “beginner’s dive.”

This included a depth underwater not exceeding five meters, a maximum duration of 30 minutes and a very close watch from the diving boat. The victim was also diving with a certified Japanese instructor.

Monthouël told the local newspaper Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes the fatal accident could have been the result of a “moment of panic” on the part of the tourist, who had never dived before.

The victim was holidaying with his wife in the French Pacific territory, where he had decided to take his first scuba dive at the local Duck Islet resort off the capital Nouméa.
Initial reports after his emergency rescue and transfer to the local Gaston Bourret hospital intensive care unit indicate he suffered severe brain damage.

The accident took place after the diving party had resurfaced and was swimming near the dive boat.

The tourist, who was still wearing his diving equipment, including the air tanks on his back, first screamed for help and began drowning.

He was swiftly brought back to the small boat, then rushed by helicopter to the hospital.
He was pronounced dead about 24 hours later, on Tuesday afternoon.

New Caledonia has been, in the past fifteen years, a favorite destination for Japanese holidaymakers, especially honeymooners.

http://newspad-pacific.info/

Ms Andrews said the boat then headed out to Ninepin Island and around Cape Wiwiki before heading back to Waitangi.

She said as the Coastguard got close to Howe Point, the crew heard voices calling from the beach.

“The two men were found safe and well but very glad to see help arrive,” Ms Andrews said.

She said the men’s boat sank in what was known as the Middle Ground and they had to swim for up to three hours.

Ms Andrews said it was fortunate that one of the men’s partners overheard where they were planning to dive.

“Without this information it would have been very difficult to launch a search,” she said.

Ms Andrews said divers should tell others of their plans before they leave.

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz

The recalled regulators have a brass DIN retainer manufactured prior to June 2006. The recalled Aqua Lung Titan Din 1st Stage regulators have serial numbers lower than 6062501 stamped on the side of the regulator’s body. Recalled Titan/Conshelf DIN adaptors are marked “300 BAR MAX” on the side of the part.

Consumers should return the equipment to any authorized Aqua Lung dealer for a free replacement DIN retainer.