AN INQUEST heard yesterday how an experienced diver disappeared and drowned when she was only feet from the safety of rocks after a diving expedition went fatally wrong.
Ann Howard (41), was last seen alive off rocks off Arranmore Island in Co Donegal in May 2008.
Coroner John Cannon said it appeared that diving was a very enjoyable pastime but was dangerous. However, a diving expert said more people were killed hill-walking in Ireland each year than they were diving.
The jury found Ms Howard died from drowning, in accordance with the coroner’s direction.
“It is somewhat a mystery to us how she happened to drown on this May day in the quiet waters of northwest Donegal in diving conditions described as perfect,” he said.
A diving equipment expert, Rory Golden of Flagship Scuba Diving, Grand Canal Lock in Dublin, examined the dead woman’s diving equipment.
He raised questions about whether Ms Howard had used a number of different types of breathing equipment and put them together which he said was not recommended.
“Regulators are a life support system and one should never mix them up – particularly the first and second stage.
“I’m not pointing the finger, we all do silly things but as you get older, you get wiser,” he said.
However, he said information from her equipment showed a fairly normal dive, but did say that it would have been an uncomfortable dive because Ms Howard would have found it hard to breathe.
But Ms Howard’s boyfriend, Steven Quarmby, said she had used equipment since 2002 and had never had a problem with it.
Letterkenny Coroner’s Court heard she had more than 10 years diving experience and was part of a team of eight divers who were diving at a place known as Paradise Cavern on May 9th, 2008.
The group had come over from Manchester to spend a number of days. Ms Howard, who had complained of having a sore ear, was teamed up with her “dive buddy” Lee Harvey.
Shortly after they entered the water, they separated from other members of the group while they were swimming at a depth of about 14 metres. The pair resurfaced but were not sure of their location. They dived again because the current was strong and they could not swim against it in a bid to find their location.
When they surfaced again, Mr Harvey signalled to go one way but Ms Howard signalled the other and eventually they went the way she signalled.
Mr Harvey, who has done 30 dives since 2006 and was less experienced, managed to scramble on to a small rocky island.
He flapped his arms about to attract the attention of boats while Ms Howard remained in the water.
When Mr Harvey managed to come back to where Ms Howard, from Ashton-Upon-Lyne, Lancashire, had been, she had disappeared. The skipper of the boat which had taken the divers out, Oscar Duffy of Inishfree Charters, contacted Malin Head Coast Guard station and a search was launched for the rest of the day.
The search was called off and the following day, May 10th, members of Sheephaven Sub Aqua Search Team Garda comprising 11 divers, led by Garda Sgt John Joe Rowland, met at 8am at Burtonport and went to Paradise Cavern but found nothing.
The team moved along the coast close to where Ms Howard disappeared and at 9.50am, her body was found on the seabed at a depth of 22 metres.
An SOS signal was flashing on the dive computer worn on her hand. There was still air in Ms Howard’s bottle – a third of her bottle or enough to last a half-hour, according to Sgt Rowland, who has completed 25 dives.
Pathologist Dr Katriona Dillon said death was due to drowning and there was no evidence of disease and no alcohol or drugs found in the body.