Watersport/diving accident

[Waterrat]

3 days ago there was a dive accident with mermaid diving. 2 discover scuba divers where located under the boat with their instructor when the captain decided to start the engine and drive away.

-In the news papers it is stated that the lady fell overboard???

-Why did the captain starts engines when their are divers in the water?

-How is the instructor doing?

The lady is still in critical condition at the IC unit at the local hospital.

A local diver

[Andrea J.]

were u a witness?
were u onboard?

can u post the news report link?

andrea

Originally Posted by Waterrat

3 days ago there was a dive accident with mermaid diving. 2 discover scuba divers where located under the boat with their instructor when the captain decided to start the engine and drive away.

-In the news papers it is stated that the lady fell overboard???

-Why did the captain starts engines when their are divers in the water?

-How is the instructor doing?

The lady is still in critical condition at the IC unit at the local hospital.

A local diver

[DANNYO]

Didn't Mermaid have some problems with there certification.Hope everyone is OK.

[Waterrat]

Sounds like mermaid diving is still a big mess. appearantly not for nothing that they are blacklisted by for example PADi international.
They are trying to blaim it on the insurance of the instructor right now.
Looks like a simple case for a lawyer: students and instructor jump in the water, captain starts engines and starts driving. and that all in less then 5 minutes.

Accidente serio cu un sambuyador

Diabierna mainta a drenta informacion di un caso na Barcadera, unda cu boto
cu a bay hiba turistanan pa sambuya a pasa riba un turista cu a cay for di e
boto. Mesora a dirigi polis como ambulance p’e sitio.
Na yegada di e patruya policial, nan a haya cu un boto cu a caba di trece un
victima di un accidente riba lama. Ta trata aki di un turista cu lo a cay for di
boto y despues di esey e wiek di e boto lo a dal su cabes. Otronan ta bisa, cu
chapaleta di e boto a corta e turista aki malamente den su cabez. Mirando
e gravedad a pidi presencia di ambulance cu mas urgencia, y na nan yegada
mesora a tuma e victima over for di e boto y a pase den ambulance p’asina a
hibe hospital. Segun un ultimo informe su condicion ta stabiel. Autoridad tin e

caso aki bao investigacion

In this article it is stated that the person fell of the boat in front of the propellor. this is not the truth.
Also Carlos, a member of Mermaid diving has been walking into the hospital with a friend from the local police department. looks like things are really messy.

The victim is slowly getting better. but still not out of danger.

[Arubalisa]

Originally Posted by Andrea J.

can u post the news report link?

andrea

http://awemainta.com/home/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=210& tmpl=component&format=raw&Itemid=45

[Andrea J.]

in all my years going to aruba
i have never heard one positive remark/review about mermaid divers.

hope the vicitm recovers fully and quickly

thanks waterrat and lisa

andrea

Originally Posted by Waterrat

Sounds like mermaid diving is still a big mess. appearantly not for nothing that they are blacklisted by for example PADi international.
They are trying to blaim it on the insurance of the instructor right now.
Looks like a simple case for a lawyer: students and instructor jump in the water, captain starts engines and starts driving. and that all in less then 5 minutes.

Accidente serio cu un sambuyador
Diabierna mainta a drenta informacion di un caso na Barcadera, unda cu boto
cu a bay hiba turistanan pa sambuya a pasa riba un turista cu a cay for di e
boto. Mesora a dirigi polis como ambulance p’e sitio.
Na yegada di e patruya policial, nan a haya cu un boto cu a caba di trece un
victima di un accidente riba lama. Ta trata aki di un turista cu lo a cay for di
boto y despues di esey e wiek di e boto lo a dal su cabes. Otronan ta bisa, cu
chapaleta di e boto a corta e turista aki malamente den su cabez. Mirando
e gravedad a pidi presencia di ambulance cu mas urgencia, y na nan yegada
mesora a tuma e victima over for di e boto y a pase den ambulance p’asina a
hibe hospital. Segun un ultimo informe su condicion ta stabiel. Autoridad tin e

caso aki bao investigacion

In this article it is stated that the person fell of the boat in front of the propellor. this is not the truth.
Also Carlos, a member of Mermaid diving has been walking into the hospital with a friend from the local police department. looks like things are really messy.

The victim is slowly getting better. but still not out of danger.

[Arubalisa]

Originally Posted by Andrea J.

in all my years going to aruba
i have never heard one positive remark/review about mermaid divers.
andrea

Me neither.

There is a reason why they are not a Padi shop.

[Jeff B]

I was on the boat when this happened and I can tell you for a FACT... She did not fall overboard and get hit by the prop!!

Here is what I know.

There were 6 divers on board. 3 of us were more experienced and the other 3 were beginners. The girl who got hit was there with her husband and both had recently got certified and another girl was getting certified. Were were to split into 2 groups the experienced divers were going to do a deep drift dive and the beginners were going to go with the instructor (Buri??) Big older guy with long grey hair) We ALL got in the water except one girl was going to maybe snorkel while her husband dovw with my group. We went down and about mid way through the dive I noticed that Tito (think thats his name) had caught up to us. We got done with the dive and came up. I was looking for the boat when Tito told me we may have to swim to shore and wait for the police boat to come get us as there had been an accident. Byt the time we got back to the dive boat via the police the girl was gone and from what the eyewitnesses said this is what happened. When we arrived to the dive site we couldn't anchor as the anchor line had broke. When we got in it was fairly shallow (less than 20 ft) The beginners group was down on the bottom when the driver of the boat was needing to move the boat as it was being pushed towards shore. The girl who got hit husband had started to go up for some reason. The instuctor (Buri?) signalled for him to come back down but he didn't. He swam up and grabbed the guy and forced him down. From my understanding no one actually saw the girl get hit all they saw was she was at the bottom mask and reg gone and air line cut. She was unconcious. Buri grabbed her and rushed to the surface and into the boat and started CPR as she was not breathing. They all said she was breathing when the ambulance finally got there but there was a while she was unresponsive and everybody thought she was dead. The prop cut her on the head but they said it wasnt real deep. I am not a fan of the owner of Mermaid but I do like the crew. They were all excellent divers and good people. I am not sure why she went up, I think it may have been inexperiece and bouancy problems. but that is just a guess. I was told the girl was stable in the hospital but would like an update if anyone knows for sure. For the record Tito was not driving the mermaid when this happened. another guy was.
You can say what you want about the mermaid crew but that instructor saved that girls life!! She was basically dead when she got on the boat and was breathing but still in serious trouble when help arrived. And as far as running the motor with divers down that seems to be a common occurance in Aruba as on wednesday we dove the Antilla and I heard several motors starting while we were down. Kinda scary looking up and seeing 2 props spinning at 2000 + rpm directly above you.

PS do you have a link to that article in english?

JEFF BENHAM
CONROE TEXAS

[crsatter]

Originally Posted by Jeff B

I was on the boat when this happened and I can tell you for a FACT... She did not fall overboard and get hit by the prop!!

Here is what I know.

There were 6 divers on board. 3 of us were more experienced and the other 3 were beginners. The girl who got hit was there with her husband and both had recently got certified and another girl was getting certified. Were were to split into 2 groups the experienced divers were going to do a deep drift dive and the beginners were going to go with the instructor (Buri??) Big older guy with long grey hair) We ALL got in the water except one girl was going to maybe snorkel while her husband dovw with my group. We went down and about mid way through the dive I noticed that Tito (think thats his name) had caught up to us. We got done with the dive and came up. I was looking for the boat when Tito told me we may have to swim to shore and wait for the police boat to come get us as there had been an accident. Byt the time we got back to the dive boat via the police the girl was gone and from what the eyewitnesses said this is what happened. When we arrived to the dive site we couldn't anchor as the anchor line had broke. When we got in it was fairly shallow (less than 20 ft) The beginners group was down on the bottom when the driver of the boat was needing to move the boat as it was being pushed towards shore. The girl who got hit husband had started to go up for some reason. The instuctor (Buri?) signalled for him to come back down but he didn't. He swam up and grabbed the guy and forced him down. From my understanding no one actually saw the girl get hit all they saw was she was at the bottom mask and reg gone and air line cut. She was unconcious. Buri grabbed her and rushed to the surface and into the boat and started CPR as she was not breathing. They all said she was breathing when the ambulance finally got there but there was a while she was unresponsive and everybody thought she was dead. The prop cut her on the head but they said it wasnt real deep. I am not a fan of the owner of Mermaid but I do like the crew. They were all excellent divers and good people. I am not sure why she went up, I think it may have been inexperiece and bouancy problems. but that is just a guess. I was told the girl was stable in the hospital but would like an update if anyone knows for sure. For the record Tito was not driving the mermaid when this happened. another guy was.
You can say what you want about the mermaid crew but that instructor saved that girls life!! She was basically dead when she got on the boat and was breathing but still in serious trouble when help arrived. And as far as running the motor with divers down that seems to be a common occurance in Aruba as on wednesday we dove the Antilla and I heard several motors starting while we were down. Kinda scary looking up and seeing 2 props spinning at 2000 + rpm directly above you.

PS do you have a link to that article in english?

JEFF BENHAM
CONROE TEXAS

Jeff's account is pretty much what was told to me by a person that was in the water at the time it happened.

[crsatter]

When someone knows how the lady is doing please post it on the forum.