Paul Swain, 49, from Billingham, entered the wreck of the Gozo Channel ferry Xlendi, which lies upside down in 45m of water, while diving with fellow Sub-Aqua Association members from South Hetton, County Durham on 3 November.
According to a Maltese press report, Swain and his buddy swam some 20m into the wreck before passing through a hatch into its cafeteria area. In disturbed silt, the two lost sight of each other and, disorientated, the buddy fortunately refound the exit. As his air ran down he was forced to surface alone.
Searches were made over two days by volunteer divers on behalf of Malta's Civil Protection Department. The search team would not enter the cafeteria, which they regarded as too dangerous on account of loose debris, but they inspected other areas in case Swain had managed to get out of the cafeteria before succumbing at another point inside or outside the wreck.
When no trace of the diver was found, the team concluded that Swain must have remained in the cafeteria. They studied the ship's plans and, in a carefully prepared operation, finally entered the cafeteria to find Swain partly buried in silt.
His body was recovered and is being repatriated for burial by his family, fiancée and friends, with consular assistance from the Foreign Office.
While sympathetic to the loss, Maltese diving businesses have been concerned that the incident might reflect unfairly on the safety of their wreck diving operations. They have pointed out that the Xlendi is officially off-limits.
Inferring that the County Durham divers must have visited the wreck without any dive centre guide, Malta's Professional Diving Schools Association told Divernet: 'None of the Maltese or Gozitan dive centres allow diving in the wreck of the Xlendi, which was declared unsafe by the local authorities two years ago.'
It added that 'large signs' at four potential entry points on the wreck, 'warning divers not to dive in the Xlendi, stating it as unsafe', were 'cleaned by the Red Cross just one week prior to this incident as part of the safety precautions to ensure they are highly visible to everyone'.
It is not yet clear whether the divers saw and ignored any of the signs, or whether they failed to see a sign, perhaps on account of poor visibility, and otherwise did not know of the wreck's official status.
|
