When two scuba divers came across a human tibia off the New Zealand coast on 1 April this year, police linked the discovery to the disappearance of a solo freediver some 18 months earlier.
Jinting Guo, 35, had gone missing on 19 October, 2023, and a coroner has now ruled that he most likely drowned while freediving in Titahi Bay, near Wellington on North Island.
Guo had last been seen by his wife at 9am that morning, but she had not reported him missing to police until 22 October, after consulting the Chinese embassy. According to the police, the delay had come about because of her inability to speak English.
Her husband had taken their son to school but had failed to turn up to collect him later that day. Close to a well-known diving entry-point police found his parked car, containing empty dive-gear bags and a towel. He had only recently taken up freediving, said the police.
Dive-shop evidence
Dive Wellington store-owner Paula Drane told officers that she had seen Guo the day before his disappearance (18 October) when he came in to collect gear he stored at her dive-shop.
He had told her that he intended to dive either that day or the next, but assured her that he would not go out alone. He had also booked a dive for the 20th, for which he failed to show up. That day a passer-by had found what turned out to be Guo’s dive-float on the Titahi Bay foreshore.
All searches for Guo had been suspended by the start of 2024 and his body was never recovered. After the long delay in reporting his disappearance, even if he had remained afloat it was highly unlikely that he would have survived sea temperatures in the 13-15°C range for more than 20 hours, said coroner Rachael Schmidt-McCleave at the recent inquest.
DNA testing proved the shinbone to be his but offered no clues as to cause of death, so she could only say that Guo had died between 19 and 23 October, likely due to drowning in accidental circumstances.
The coroner reminded the public of the advice of Water Safety New Zealand that freedivers should always dive with a buddy, constantly monitor each other and employ a one-up, one-down system.
