Wreck access reviewed after diver trapped

Ally · 09-17-2007, 03:38 PM

A Northern Territory dive operator says it is not safe to dive on a ship which was sunk as an artifical reef in Darwin Harbour last month.

A 23-year-old diver nearly died on Saturday when he lost his bearings in low visibilty in stirred-up silt inside the wreck of the Medkahun.

Divers from around Darwin rushed to the site to ferry air down to the trapped man during the rescue operation.

Dive operator Wayne Huxley says the ship has never been safe.

"The entrance doors aren't sealed up at all which they should've been before the wreck was sunk," he said.

"As dive operators we never got asked to come and see if these things should happen for the wreck, because it was sunk for fishing.

"That's why we dived as soon as they sunk it so we could see the situation happen, so we decided we wouldn't let anyone dive inside the wreck at all."

A spokeswoman for the NT Fisheries Minister says the Government will review the situation today, confirming the wreck was intended for fishing, not for diving.

Yesterday, the NT Government released a statement saying the wreckage was safe for divers.

Mr Huxley disagrees.

"They sunk this wreck a month ago. I took my staff down, we dived on it to check it out, and we decided that we wouldn't let our customers penetrate the wreck at all because it was too dangerous," he said.

"I think this is what happened with the other company, they decided to go inside the wreck."

(ABC News)

**MgicTwnger** · 09-17-2007, 05:23 PM

I've got a couple of questions:

Was the diver an experienced wreck diver, or even wreck certifeid? It sounds like he did not run a line. Even on a "prepared" wreck training and experience are all-important.

How can the operator be expected to keep track of what everyone is doing?

**dalehall** · 09-17-2007, 08:15 PM

He can't and it's dumb to think they can. When we dove the Oriskany a couple months ago, our Operator told us although he couldn't keep us from doing so, he pleaded with us to not go below the flight deck because it was not safe for Open Water divers. Not to mention, you're busting below 145 feet by then. So, he couldn't stop us, but he did ask us not to do it. If we would have done it, it was our choice. Just as with any diving, ultimately, it your choice and your choice alone whether to do a certiain dive or not. Pentrating a wreck without proper training (if that's what he did) is just stupid.