from http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~tzehao/d3.htm

The Straits Times, 19 June 1998

Divers' bodies found trapped under oil rig

By Jasbir Singh

The bodies of two Singaporean divers, who disapearred last Saturday while
diving in Indonesia, were found wedged under the metal supports of a disused
oil rig near the spot where they were last seen alive. Both bodies were
decomposed and beyond recognition as they had been trapped underwater for
more than 96 hours, said the Indonesian military. The families of Miss Shaw
Soo Ling, 29, and Mr Phillip Lemette, 31, identified them from their diving
suits and gear. They were found submerged about 10m below sea level, said
the commandant of the Tanjung Pinang Naval Base in Bintan.
Colonel Waroyo said in Bahasa Indonesia: "Their bodies did not rise to the
surface as they were entangled with some of the rig's underwater beams. It
took us half-an-hour to free them and put them on the boat." He said his
divers swam to the oil rig to look for the bodies after being alerted by the
Search-and-Rescue Centre in the town of Terampa, in the Anambas Islands. A
doctor examined the bodies when they were brought back to the centre.
Colonel Waroyo said the findings showed that both divers had drowned: "We
have ruled out foul play or sabotage. It is a case of misadventure. They
swam too deep."

Indonesian military sources said that both divers went down to more than
80m. The Shaw family claimed both bodies yesterday and is bringing them back
on the family's yacht, Sea Shaw. Miss Shaw was the daughter of Ms Philamae
Wong and Mr Harold Shaw, Managing director of Shaw Organisation, and the
granddaughter of Hongkong movie magnate Run Run Shaw. Her parents are
divorced and her father is now married to Ms Magdeline Goei. Miss Shaw had
one brother, three sisters, a step-brother and a step-sister.


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Diver wanted to learn to go deeper

By Edmund Tee

The Shaw sisters were interested in diving deeper, and were careful about
doing it correctly, said their instructor.

Ms Shaw Soo Ling signed up for a technical diving course with her sister a
month ago, a step towards learning how to dive deeper than most scuba divers
do. But she never got beyond her first classroom session, said her
instructor, Mr Gideon Liew, who has been a full-time technical diving
instructor for two years.
Last Saturday, she disappeared with her friend, Mr Phillip Lemette, off the
Anambas Islands. Their bodies were found on Wednesday. Ms Shaw already held
and advanced recreational diver rating, which allowed her to dive safely to
a depth of 40m. But Indonesian police reported that both divers had gone to
80m.
Said Mr Liew: " The sisters were clear that they wanted to dive deeper, and
they were keen to learn the right way. They knew that diving deeper required
further training."
He said that Mr Lemette, who introduced him to the Shaw sisters, had already
taken a basic enriched air nitrox training course, and was enrolled in the
advanced course. But even if Miss Shaw had completed the basic enriched air
nitrox diving course, he said, her depth limits would not have been
increased until she went for further training. This highly technical branch
of diving, called trimix, uses a special mix of helium, nitrogen and oxygen.
This mixture allows a diver to go beyond 50m with less risk of nitrogen
narcosis and oxygen toxicity - two conditions that may lead divers to drown.
At greater depths, divers use up their air faster and also tend to sink
more, he said. Nitrox diving uses air with a higher proportion of oxygen, so
a diver can stay down longer. In contrast, recreational diving uses
compressed air, like that found at sea level. In both cases, the depth limit
is about 40m. Added Mr Liew:
"Beyond 130ft, everything changes. Divers would have a redundant system, a
bail-out bottle in case of trouble, like a spare parachute. When you are
talking about diving, everything is about personal choices. If you must take
a risk, you must make sure it is a calculated risk."
He said that whenever they dived together, Mr Lemette had always been
scrupulous in following safety rules. He added:
"They were conscientious people, and they were keen on doing that extra
training to dive deeper. No one would know what happened that day except
them."


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