DIVING NEWS
Young diver lost in Hawaii named
Maunalua Bay. (Picture: Matt Kieffer)
The 13-year-old who died in a scuba-diving incident in Hawaii on 5 January has been identified as Temuulin Tsogt, a Mongolian boy on holiday in the Pacific islands with his father, mother and younger sister.
The death, reported on Divernet, occurred about a mile off Maunalua Bay on the island of Oahu. Members of the family had been out on the Island Divers Hawaii boat Sea Fox for a Discover Scuba experience.
8 January 2019
Witnesses told TV station KHON that the boy had suffered a panic attack under water and become separated from the group, in strong currents and visibility described by one instructor as the worst he had seen in 20 years.
At least eight minutes was reported to have elapsed before the crew raised the alarm, according to the witnesses. Temuulin was later found unconscious at a depth of around 18m by rescue divers, but was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.
The family’s lawyer Michael Livingston has told Hawaii News Now: “We don’t know what happened under the water, but he was lost. The team-members and the instructor surfaced without him. An emergency was called.
“To put him in the water without the absolute one-on-one, close instruction that had been promised is just outrageous,” he continued. “I just cannot overstate how devastating this has been to this family.”
Local media have detailed previous incidents on Island Divers Hawaii tours, including a diver who went missing from Sea Fox in 2011 and was never found; the death of a diver found unresponsive in November 2016; and a woman who sustained leg injuries after being struck by Sea Fox’s boat-propeller last August. A complaint that Sea Fox temporarily left two divers behind is also reported to have been filed with the Coast Guard and PADI in 2017.
Police are carrying out an investigation into Temuulin Tsogt’s death, and a post mortem is to be carried out.
