Scuba diver dies after being struck by speedboat in PPB

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chrisw
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Scuba diver dies after being struck by speedboat in PPB

Post by chrisw »

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-05/ ... n/11081516

Police are searching for the driver of a boat that struck a scuba diver in Port Phillip Bay this afternoon, killing the diver despite the efforts of paramedics to save him.

The diver, a man in his 20s, was hit by the boat between Frankston and Mornington shortly before 1:00pm.

A passing boat picked up the injured diver and his dive partner and conveyed them to Frankston Pier.

Paramedics performed CPR on the man but he died on the pier.

The second diver, also in his 20s, did not need medical assistance.

A police boat and helicopter have been deployed in the investigation.

Marine Investigation Unit detectives are investigating the diver's death and urging anyone who may have witnessed the incident or knows the identity of the driver of the boat involved to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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Re: Scuba diver dies after being struck by speedboat in PPB

Post by Wizaed1 »

This is so sad an accident.

I think it was these two I saw on Good Friday when fishing off Canadian Bay Road. They definetly had flags and were tethered to the buoys with orange rope but to be honest the flags were so low to the sea it is difficult to see.

Yesterday morning, before the tragedy, I walked to the beach where this happened and took a photo of a boat fishing (probably unrelated). For what its worth I have forwarded the photo to Crime-Stoppers.

The whole event shows the importance of having a bright flag on the kayaks.
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Re: Scuba diver dies after being struck by speedboat in PPB

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Re: Scuba diver dies after being struck by speedboat in PPB

Post by 4liters »

I guess a lot of boaties aren’t used to there being an increasing number of other users on the water these days. Probably doesn’t help that boat licenses might as well be on wheeties boxes.
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Re: Scuba diver dies after being struck by speedboat in PPB

Post by logoderm »

Yes - a tragic turn of events yesterday.

Jet skiers are another group which are at high risk of injuring other bay users with the way they speed and hoon around the bay
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Re: Scuba diver dies after being struck by speedboat in PPB

Post by peatop »

Wizaed1 wrote:This is so sad an accident.

I think it was these two I saw on Good Friday when fishing off Canadian Bay Road. They definetly had flags and were tethered to the buoys with orange rope but to be honest the flags were so low to the sea it is difficult to see.

Yesterday morning, before the tragedy, I walked to the beach where this happened and took a photo of a boat fishing (probably unrelated). For what its worth I have forwarded the photo to Crime-Stoppers.

The whole event shows the importance of having a bright flag on the kayaks.
I used to scuba dive years ago and alway considered the blue and white flag pretty much a waste of time, unless attached to a boat, i have a blue and white flag i use on the yak but also have the orange one as well.

I was out on a boat recently and i spotted a diver and it actually took some looking to find his flag :shock: my personal opinion is to have an orange or yellow high vis flag to draw attention and the dive flag to make aware of a diver below it, on a tethered buoy.
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Re: Scuba diver dies after being struck by speedboat in PPB

Post by chrisw »

Update 3: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-06/ ... r/11082282

From what I can infer, it appears this was not a high-speed collision but perhaps occurred while the second diver was talking to the boat operator. If that is so, then at least it wasn’t hooning that caused the death (not that that’s much comfort to the victims family).
A man has been arrested in connection with the investigation into the death of a skindiver on Port Phillip Bay on Sunday.

Key points:
  • The man is said to be assisting police with the investigation into the diver's death
    The two experienced skindivers were spearfishing at Canadian Bay, off Mount Eliza
    The dead man's diving partner waved to a boat shortly before discovering his friend had been injured
    The 29-year-old South Korean national, who was living in Blackburn, was struck while spearfishing with a friend at Canadian Bay, a few hundred metres off Mount Eliza, shortly before 1:00pm.
A passing commercial vessel picked up the injured diver and his dive partner and rushed them to Frankston Pier.

Paramedics performed CPR on the man but he died on the pier.

The second diver, also in his 20s, did not need medical assistance.

A 41-year-old man from Carrum Downs, in Melbourne's south-east, contacted police and was subsequently arrested.

Police said the man was now helping them with their inquiries.

Water Police Senior Sergeant Alistair Nisbet said the dead man's diving partner had waved to the skipper of the vessel suspected to have been involved in the incident to alert them to the presence of the pair.

Senior Sergeant Nisbet said after the diver and the skipper had a conversation, the boat moved out of the area and the man found his friend with "significant injuries".

He said it was possible the skipper did not realise they had hit the diver, but had likely since realised their involvement.

"The person may not have known at the time … but they probably do know now that they were involved because they were operating in that particular area," he said.

"If they were aware that this incident had occurred and they left someone in such a vulnerable state, it's an absolute tragedy."

He would not provide a description of the boat, other than to call it a "recreational-style vessel".

Police swarmed on local boat ramps on Sunday interviewing operators and obtaining vessel registrations, as police and Coast Guard vessels and a police helicopter searched for the boat.

The two men had several years of diving experience and had done "everything that is required" to signal their presence in the water, including using a buoy and flag, he said.

Boat operators and jetskis are required to slow down to 5 knots within 100 metres of a diver's flag.

'Like driving in Italy or Thailand'

Jeremy West of the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard said it was easier to get a licence to operate a boat than to drive a car, despite the challenges of operating a boat, including weather, currents, tides, diver's flags and passing vessels with restricted manoeuvrability,

"As far was we're concerned, seeing a range of incidents on the water, boats are just as deadly if not more in some cases than cars."

He said while boat licence tests covered matters such as diver safety, many boat operators did not seem to retain the information.

"You ask people a couple of years later who have held a boat licence about that kind of stuff and not a lot of people would remember about divers' flags … and those kind of things," he said.

Luke English, the president of the Dive Industry of Victoria Association, said the lack of "practical boat-handling experience" among many boat operators caused "chaos" on the bay during the busiest weeks of summer.

"All you need to do is go down to your local boat ramp any sunny Saturday and watch the chaos that ensues," he said.

"Come that five weeks of the year … you've got half the people that know what they're doing, half the people that don't know what they're doing, so it's like driving in Italy or Thailand.
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