Divers Missing in Dayang for 4 hours

[Abyy]

Heard from a friend that a group of divers from Gill Diver got swept away by strong current in bad weather and went missing for 4 hours, a few weeks back in Dayang. Anyone here involved can share what happened?

[siaokao]

Wow.. That's serious! But it surely did not happen on the 12th march weekend when I was there. Anyone have more info? If u do, pls share, this is experience we can all learn from.

Divers remember to go get ur own smb, in cases like this when separated, difficult to spot u on surface without smb.

[PenalCramp]

Sorry what is smb?

[limk]

oh smb - surface marker buoy (it's an inflatable thing usually red or yellow to mark a position at the surface, commonly deployed at safety stop. can also be deployed at depth or just when reaching surface, depending on situation. enlarges the diver(s) profile so boat people can see. also warns other traffic that divers are below, and can be used to mark a spot incase u drop something, or better yet found gold-treasure!!)

in addition to the important smb (size matters!), other considerations can include: torch (useful for photography too), pre-dive briefing to include alternate pickup point, aborting dive by dive leader/boat captain if conditions worsen after dive has started (use the prearranged recall signal - usually continous tank banging), have small chaseboat if available  
can't win them all but at least have better chance  

[Kentish_karl]

Funny how things get exagerated.

There was a group of divers who drifted away from Raynor's Rock on Sunday 13th (unlucky for some :-))

From the time it was decided they were late finishing their dive, it took a period of approx 2 hours to locate them, they had drifted down the east coast of Aur and were safe and sound on a beach.

SMB's, between the group there were 3 SMB's deployed. These were not spotted (they were your usual 1mtr, 10cm diameter smb's) that was despite the 2 boat crew and the 6 of us on the boat (yes, I was present on the boat) tryng to spot them. I already carry an SMB as above which I deploy whilst carrying out safety stops, when I'm on the surface I then deploy my Halcyon SBM 1.4mt 20cm diam. I know the leader of the "missing" group now also carries an even larger smb than mine :-)

Weather conditions were not bad, unless you consider brilliant sunshine as bad (potential for nasty sunburn maybe). There was a current but I would not describe it as strong.

There were factor's round the time it took to locatethe group but I'm not prepared to go into it here in public domain, other than the fact that when the boatman radio'ed in to advise of missing divers it took at least an hour for a second boat to come and assist with the search.

On the boat itself there were 13 divers and 2 boatmen, we know exactly what happened during the incident,so please do not over dramatise the incident.

[siaokao]

Sorry what is smb?

Sorry.. Smb is more commonly known as 'susage'. The long bright orange (sometimes yellow) air inflated marker divers usually shoot to surface from underwater to mark their surfacing location. Boats usually look for such markers to pick up divers.

IMHO, one should never go open water diving without an smb, it should be considered a critical equipment. Also bring a torch along as well.. Even for day dive. Just in case they need to look for u into the night. Without a torch, it's almost impossible to find u in darkness, waiting for 12 hrs in the dark is no fun. And during that 12 hrs, u will be drifting even further.. Making the search area even bigger. Scary thought huh?  

[siaokao]

Thx for the info Karl.. I was there on 13th morning and was diving Penang. Surface wave was not flat, but nothing to worry abt, current I will say it's mild. And yes, it was no big issue, back at resort, i was not even aware of the incident!

[Gill Divers]

Thanks for the information Karl. Some of the "missing" divers got sunburn, but other than that, like what Karl said, everybody was safe and unharmed. No one is to blame for the divers having been drifted away and the leader of the group did a terrific job on getting all the divers to stay together and still have fun.

[hellhole]

indeed... this incident should be focus on how well the group leader and the group did overall.

[Gill Divers]

Dear all, we are glad that the industry and people on scubasg.com are so keen and has given so much constructive comments.

And thanks Karl for the clarification, if anyone has any more inquiries regarding the incident please send it to us directly (gillmen@gilldivers.com / 67349373 / www.gilldivers.com). It would be the best to hear it from us directly.

Gill Team