An inquest jury has called for the setting up of a new watchdog body for adventure centres in the wake of the death of a Cork man who drowned while learning to dive in shallow waters off the west of Ireland.
Patrick Burke (32), of Bolomore, Rathcoole, Mallow, died while partaking in an introductory diving class, organised by Scubadive West in north-west Connemara, on September 7th of last year.
After hearing five hours of evidence, the jury recommended that a statutory watchdog body be given responsibility for regulating adventure centres in an attempt to prevent similar fatalities in the future. Five people joined the class in Renville the day Mr Burke drowned, the inquest heard. Before going on the dive, the five were shown a video of the precautions and safety features involved in diving.
The participants had to fill out a questionnaire and a medical form. They were shown the diving equipment and how to use it. The group was then taken into three feet of water by their diving instructor, Mr Shane Grey, managing director of Scubadive West. Mr Aidan Clarke, one of the group, said Mr Grey then took them out into about three feet of water and got them to lie on their stomachs to get used to breathing through the regulators for five to 10 minutes. He showed them how to retrieve the regulators if they ever came out of their mouths. He also showed them how to clear their masks of water, and how to use their buoyancy jackets. Afterwards, he brought them out to about 20 feet of water. On the return journey, Mr Clarke said Mr Burke, Mr John Murphy, and himself were together and he noticed Mr Burke trying to get up to the surface. He did not have his mask on and he was pressing his buoyancy button. They became separated from Mr Grey.
Mr Clarke said that while this was the first time he had ever dived he remained calm and stayed put on the bottom. Then he saw Mr Murphy descend on his back. He signalled to Mr Murphy to remain calm and not panic and then the instructor returned. The instructor signalled to them to stay put and went off after Mr Burke.
After a while both Mr Clarke and Mr Murphy decided to surface and Mr Clarke said he did a head count and came up one short. He saw people on the rocks where Mr Burke was and they were trying to resuscitate him.
Mr Murphy, from Waterford, told the inquest that during the dive he saw Mr Burke moving around a lot in the water and he seemed to be struggling rapidly to go up. He followed Mr Burke to the surface and saw that he was having difficulty breathing.
Mr Burke was about 10 feet away from him and he was gulping water and trying to breathe. He had his head back and appeared to be relaxing. He did not have the regulator in his mouth. Mr Murphy shouted at him not to panic but then he himself began to gulp water and started to go down again. He started to panic and heard Mr Burke shout for help.
Mr Murphy hit the bottom on his back and saw another diver, Mr Clarke, coming towards him signalling at him not to panic.
Mr Grey arrived beside them and signalled at them to stay on the bottom but after a while they pressed their buoyancy buttons and surfaced. Mr Murphy said they saw people on the rocks and Mr Grey said to them later: "I don't know how you got separated back there. You were supposed to stay with me."
He told the inquest this had been his first dive and he had been very confused and disorientated underwater. "I was scared and would not like to be in that position again. I was not in control and I don't know why he (Mr Burke) went down again after going to the surface," added Mr Murphy.
The academic course instructor that day, Mr Frank Hogan, told the inquest that he noticed Mr Burke was quiet during the initial phase of the instruction programme, but at no stage did he seem nervous. Mr Hogan said he was a member of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) and this had been a totally introductory diving course where participants were taught through repetition to know enough if they got into an emergency situation. He added that the object of the programme was to negate an emergency from ever arising. "This is an adventure sport and people should be aware of the inherent risks involved. We don't want to tell them all the bad things that could happen but we teach them how to negate this ever happening in the first place," he said.
The same system had been used successfully throughout the world and the instructions were reiterated four times. He said the video was not a requirement but was used as well as the other instruction. The international regulations were set by PADI and were not subject to any statutory obligations.
The jury took five minutes to return an open verdict and recommend that a watchdog body be formed for adventure sports centres.