Coroner rules on scuba training deaths

Search and rescue teams during the search of Lake Pupuke in 2011. Photo / Doug Sherring

Dive instructors need to stress to students the importance of diving with the right gear, a coroner has ruled after looking into the deaths of two men in Lake Pupuke on Auckland's North Shore.

Tyron North, 37, and Daniel Waata Stoneham, 33, died on a scuba dive training programme in the deep freshwater lake on July 15, 2011.

They were on a course run by south Auckland company Helix Training Ltd and were on the last of 25 qualification dives, which would have given them a tertiary diving qualification.

The dive party consisted of an instructor and seven student divers from the Tauranga-based outdoor education provider Adventure Education.

In a finding released today, Coroner Gordon Matenga ruled that Mr North and Mr Stoneham descended faster than what their instructor had briefed them on.

They quickly fell out of formation, dropped past the target depth of 39m, and encountered blackout conditions.

The divers lost sight of each other and became disorientated, affected by nitrogen narcosis and vertigo.

At the bottom of the lake, at 54m, they became "stressed and panicked", the coroner states in his findings.

Neither man inflated their buoyancy control device (BCD) nor dropped their weight belt.

Mr North became entangled in the descent line.

Their bodies were recovered later.

Now, Coroner Matenga has ruled that their deaths were accidental and has made several recommendations to instructional dive courses to try and avoid a repeat tragedy.

"I find that the decision made by Tyron and Daniel to descend at a rate faster than the instructor has contributed to their deaths. I also find that the failure to inflate BCDs and/or drop weight belts has contributed to the deaths."

Coroner Matenga noted that scuba diving, like other adventure sports, came with inherent risks, which is part of its attraction.

But he recommended a copy of his findings be distributed to all instructional diving courses in New Zealand so this case could be discussed with trainee divers.

"This will reduce the chance of other deaths in similar circumstances in the future by highlighting the need to follow the instructions of the instructor, carry appropriate gear, the importance of pre-dive checks, considering the possibility of the loss of or restricted visibility during the dive and encourage better planning of training dives."

Coroner Matenga recommended that all diving instruction courses using Lake Pupuke should set datums on dive profiles so that the target depth of a dive cannot be exceeded.

He also said all diving courses should emphasise to their students the need to carry appropriate equipment on all dives, including a dive knife, a source of light in restricted visibility, a watch or timing device, and an arrest line rather than a descent line.

Both the North and Stoneham families have criticised the decision by police and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment not to prosecute the dive company, Helix.

While the coroner made no comment on that decision, he welcomed changes Helix had since made to its practice.