Unsafe diving practices contributed to diver's death

Thursday, 4 June 2020

The seas off Motunau Island are popular with divers.

A combination of unsafe diving practices contributed to the death of a man during a diving trip off the North Canterbury coast.

Neil Brookes, 58, of Rangiora, died during a scuba diving trip near Motunau Island on March 5, 2017.

A report by Coroner Marcus Elliot found the probable cause of death was drowning following a possible cerebral arterial gas embolism suffered during an out-of-air ascent.

Brookes’ death was complicated by the loss of his mask and regulator, overweighting by lead and crayfish, and separation from his diving buddy.

* Man who died while diving near Motunau Island in North Canterbury named

Brookes, who had been diving for over a decade and had done a diving course, arrived at his friend and neighbour Mark O’Donnell’s home about 7.30am on March 5.

Three others, including O’Donnell’s son Hayden O’Donnell, launched the boat at Motunau about 9.15am.

Motunau has had a number of diving tragedies. Pictured is a helicopter searching for a missing diver in 2006.

Mark O’Donnell said there was a good 25m to 30m of chain and rope out from the boat. Hayden O’Donnell went diving first, followed by Brookes and Mark O’Donnell.

Hayden O’Donnell said he and Brookes stopped at the bottom to see his father come down who then split off the chain to grab a crayfish.

He then went back towards Brookes, but got lost in the dust.

“We were meant to stick together, but it was easy to spread apart around rocks and stuff,” Hayden O’Donnell told police.

Hayden O’Donnell said he caught some crayfish then headed back up to the surface. He was on the boat for a couple of minutes when his father popped up. They drove the boat towards O’Donnell when Brookes popped up.

“We went over to dad as he was up and Neil looked fine,” Hayden O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell helped his father by getting his buoyancy compensator device (BCD) and heavy gear out of the water. He then heard what sounded like a gasp coming from Brookes.

“I could see Neil floating. I could see him on the surface so thought everything was as it should be. I could not see if the BCD was inflated.”

O’Donnell watched Brookes as they took the boat towards him, they were about 10 metres away when he realised Brookes was not using his regulator for breathing.

“I saw a wave go over his face and he was leaning back with his catch bag in front.

“He just floated underwater. He sunk and went underwater. We were all in disbelief.”

David Weston, who was driving the boat, saw Brookes take his mask off after he surfaced and take the respirator out of his mouth and call out.

Weston started the engine up and as they approached he noticed Brookes lay backwards.

“His arms just went straight out sideways from his body as he went onto his back. For a short period like seconds he floated. As he floated back he started sinking with water coming over his face.

“He did not move or make any effort to breathe, move his head or arms as the water went over his face. We lost sight of him when we were about 1 to 1.5 boat lengths away he was probably about 2 metres down underwater.”

Brookes did not resurface. The group searched the area and made a mayday call. A nearby boat picked up the call and came to the area to assist. Some divers searched the water but were unable to locate him.

The Police national dive squad found him on the seabed, at a depth of 23.5 metres in the vicinity of the diving area the following day.

Pathologist Dr Martin Sage said his findings were limited due to the state of Brookes' body, but concluded he died due to a scuba dive mishap.

Forensic pathologist Dr Christopher Lawrence said it was difficult to give a cause of death given the time since death and the post-mortem damage, but said the probable cause was drowning following a possible embolism.

Constable Seda Clayton-Greene, who is an officer with the Police national dive squad, provided a report to the coroner.

He said that Brookes, despite having approximately 15 years of dive experience, used some unsafe diving practices.

This included possibly breathing his dive cylinder empty, not wearing a watch or timepiece while diving, attaching a catch bag directly to his dive equipment and not diving with a dive buddy.

Clayton-Greene concluded a combination of Brookes’ unsafe diving practices was a contributing factor in his death.

“While those factors on their own may not necessarily be fatal, combined they have had a domino effect with fatal consequences.”

The calling out in pain could be associated with a rapid ascent, with the pain caused by decompression sickness or an arterial gas embolism.

Coroner Elliot said Brookes’ death highlighted the importance of scuba divers checking their weighting and buoyancy, monitoring their air supply and diving with a buddy for the whole dive.