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This happened 10th March. I once traveled through this pass in a 35 ft launch. We were spun around and sucked down (a little!) by whirlpools etc. The skipper said the currents can run 10 - 12 knots. btw this was a training dive! ...R Tide sucks divers into lethal hole 11.03.2000 - By MARTIN JOHNSTON, NZPA Two divers died and one is missing after vicious tides sucked a dive party into a 95m hole in the Marlborough Sounds yesterday. Police last night named one of the dead, Ricky McDonald, aged 40, thought to be from Nelson. The other dead diver was a woman and the missing diver was male, said Sergeant Mike Fitzsimons, of Nelson. The woman died while rescuers tried to revive her on a beach. Seven people were diving near French Pass in perfect weather when tragedy struck, said Acting Sergeant Dean Rosson, of Picton. Four rescue helicopters were sent to the area, at the northern tip of the Sounds, after the Nelson-based dive boat sent out a mayday call about 2.30 pm. Helicopter pilot Steve Gibb said the divers had been in a 400m-wide strip of treacherous water between D'Urville Island and the mainland when changing tides carried them north. "There is a very bad suckdown effect into a hole, and they were dragged down, some of them, to 95m," he said. Four other divers were flown to Nelson Hospital. One is suspected to have the bends. Sergeant Tere Lawson, of Blenheim, said gear failure might have been a factor. It was thought the divers had gone deeper than planned after a depth marker line broke. Missing diver's body may never be recovered 13.03.2000 - BLENHEIM -- Police will today reassess the search for the body of a diver missing after an accident on Friday which killed two others. David Welsh, 21, of Nelson, was with a group of seven divers who got into trouble at French Pass in the outer Marlborough Sounds. Ricky McDonald, 40, and Narelle Tanika Te Purei, 33, both of Nelson, died and Mr Welsh is believed to have also perished. The group was apparently sucked nearly 100m into a notorious hole at the pass. Another four divers who resurfaced following the incident were flown to Nelson on Friday. One was admitted to hospital. However, on Saturday all four were flown by helicopter to a recompression chamber in Christchurch. Nelson Hospital said one of the divers who had originally been treated and discharged had returned to hospital on Saturday with possible symptoms of the bends. The others were recalled and flown to Christchurch as a precaution. Sergeant Mike Irving said the Blenheim police had received an offer of specialist camera equipment to help in the search for Mr Welsh, but even if the diver's body were located, it might be too dangerous to recover it. Sergeant Irving said police would like to return Mr Welsh's body to his family. "If it can't be done safely there will be no body recovery and we will have to let nature take its course." Blenheim CIB was reviewing statements from survivors and witnesses and had seized dive gear and other equipment which would be sent to Wellington today to be examined. Police were also looking at how the divers, who were roped together, apparently became detached from a floating buoy which was rigged to allow them to dive to a set depth of 30m. Sergeant Irving stressed that the investigation was not a witch-hunt but part of an effort to ensure such a tragedy did not happen again. -- NZPA Rod Budd National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd. (NIWA) Gate 10 Silverdale Rd (PO Box 11-115) Hillcrest Hamilton New Zealand. +64 7 856 7026 business +64 25 734 066 mobile +64 7 856 0151 fax r.budd@ni*.cr*.nz* http://www.niwa.cri.nz/ -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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