03-20-2008, 12:11 PM
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#1 |
| Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: York, UK
Posts: 1,227
|  Dead diver 'had not checked gear'
Quote:
A 22-year-old diver drowned after he ran out of air because his equipment was not properly checked, an inquest has heard.
Mark Steel, of Daventry, Northants, went missing while diving at the Kyarra, a World War I wreck off Swanage, Dorset, in August 2005.
His body was not found until August 2007 by another diver near the wreck off Anvil Point.
The coroner, sitting in Bournemouth, recorded an accidental death verdict.
The inquest heard how the self-employed electrician gave his buddy Michael Chapman a signal to say he was running out of air and was about to resurface.
He then came up, held on to his marker buoy, made eye contact with the skipper of the dive ship Killer Prawn, before rolling backwards and disappearing into the sea without his mask.
When Mr Steel's skeletal remains were found two years later tests showed he had drowned. An investigation also showed that a valve was closed, which stopped him from accessing air in his second tank.
Mr Steel, who was a speedway motorbike rider representing England at the age of 17, dreamt of opening a dive shop in Australia and had booked a flight before he died.
| http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7305613.stm |
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