Incidents

DAN Reminds Dive Pros to Avoid a Gap in Their Liability Coverage

This means that to be covered, you must have continuous (uninterrupted) coverage from the time of the incident that led to the claim to the time the claim is filed. 

Any gap in coverage, no matter how small, will negate coverage for previous incidents or claims. Keep in mind that it may take up to 48 hours to process your policy, and there is no grace period, so be sure to renew well before your current policy expires.

Before You Renew!

Jared Hires, Lamar Hires, Rosemary E Lunn, Roz Lunn, XRay Mag, X-Ray Magazine
"Diving is everything to me. It is my livelihood and how I support my family, but it is also my escape and happy place" Jared Hires

Jared Hires Dies at Plura Cave

The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK (nrk.no) first reported the diving incident:

An American citizen has been confirmed dead after a diving accident in the Plura Cave in Rana. Although a defibrillator was used after a short time, his life was not saved.

The following is a first-hand statement given to me by one of the divers involved with the fatal dive. They spoke to me on the evening of 4 April 2023. 

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Arthur Castillo had his conviction quashed after the court gave a different interpretation to the “buddy system” which had been a crucial factor in his previous conviction
Arthur Castillo had his conviction quashed after the court gave a different interpretation to the “buddy system” which had been a crucial factor in his previous conviction

Appeals court clears diver of involuntary manslaughter of diving buddy

On Friday 25 November 2022, a lower court found diver Arthur Castillo, 60, guilty of the involuntary homicide of his long-time dive buddy Christine Gauci, who died following a dive in Mgarr ix-Xini, a bay on the southern coast of Gozo in January 2020. Gauci was an Armed Forces of Malta member, diving instructor and technical diver.

In a ruling that caused outrage in the diving community, the lower court handed Castillo a two-year jail term suspended for four years, which was immediately appealed.

Was justice served or perverted?

Implications of Maltese Court Ruling on Diving Fatality

On Friday 25 November, diver Arthur Castillo, 60, was found guilty of the involuntary homicide of his long-time dive buddy Christine Gauci who died following a dive in Mgarr ix-Xini, a bay on the southern coast of Gozo in January 2020. Ms Gauci was an Armed Forces of Malta member, diving instructor and technical diver.

The court handed Mr. Castillo a two-year jail term suspended for four years, pronouncing itself convinced that this case did not merit effective imprisonment. Castillo told Times of Malta he will be appealing the judgment but declined further comment.

Warner -v- Scapa Flow Charters Court Case: Successfully overturned

Scotland's highest civil court published their Opinion of the Court on 10 May 2022, and ruled that fault or neglect on the part of Scapa Charters "is not established".

The Opinion states "The Lord Ordinary wrongly concluded that walking in fins represented an unacceptable risk...The inference drawn by the Lord Ordinary was unreasonable. The divers' unchallenged evidence made it clear that putting on fins and then walking to the exit point was almost invariable practice.

Unfathomable tragedy hits Dudas family of divers

On Friday 23 April 2021, Zale Dudas (9) and Saxon Nairne (7), along with their father Rodney Nairne, visited a property in Jensen Beach. It is believed that the purpose of the visit was to demonstrate a DPV or Diver propulsion vehicle.

According to mainstream media reports, the siblings were “described by their father as experienced swimmers and proficient divers”. This is not a surprise because the family are ardent and experienced scuba and technical divers, and several members have done work in scuba diving.

Link to GoFundMe page: Help Suzie

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Dudas Famil

Update

We are both devastated. Rodney Nairne

On 28 July 2021 Rodney Nairne - Zale Dudas and Saxon Nairne's father - contacted me. He stated that both he and Suzie had agreed to donate the children's organs. 

Failure to ensure that a roving patrol was maintained allowed a fire of unknown cause to grow and ultimately consume the vessel

Last Year’s Deadly Fire Accident Aboard The Conception Dive Boat Has Consequences For All

In September 2019, off the coast of California, a fire aboard the MV Conception, a 23-meter (75-foot) scuba diving liveaboard, broke out during the night, killing 33 passengers and one crew member. The captain and four crew members barely escaped. After more than a year of speculations and rumors, the NTSB (the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board) published the results of its investigation and the U.S. Coast Guard issued a new policy on a few topics, including the charging of lithium-ion batteries aboard small vessels and liveaboards.

Tim Saville
Tim Saville was a member of the Robin Hood Dive Club, England

A little good comes from Brit wreck diver's death

61-year-old Tim Saville was diving the wreck of the Titanic’s sister ship. At the time of writing this article, it is not known why Saville died.

There is a policy in place on Britannic that divers are not allowed to penetrate the wreck unless they are diving a rebreather because this will help preserve the ship. (Gas is expelled when diving open circuit scuba). It is understood that Saville was diving an X-CCR rebreather.

Lex Warner, John Chatterton, Richie Kohler, Rosemary E Lunn, Roz Lunn, stage cylinder, Scapa Flow, Scotland, XRay Mag, X-Ray Magazine, scuba diving news, CCR fatality
File Image: John Chatterton and Richie Kohler of the Deep Sea Detectives gearing up to dive in Scapa Flow, Scotland. Rosemary Lunn is assiting Richie Kohler to clip a stage cylinder to his left hand side | Image Credit: Simon Mills

The Lex Warner case continues a sad trend

On 14 August 2012 Lex Warner was about to conduct a technical dive off the Scottish coast. He was diving a rebreather and bailout stages and whilst he was crossing the deck of the dive boat, he stumbled, fell forwards and landed heavily on the deck. He went down on his knees, then onto his hands, before rolling onto his side and finally onto his back. Having been helped back to his feet by the boat’s crew, Lex Warner was reported to have expressed frustration and annoyance at himself for falling.