24hr drift-dive for abandoned Russian official

A Russian finance ministry official is reported to have spent almost 24 hours adrift in the north Pacific, after booking a wreck-diving trip while on holiday on Sakhalin, an eastern Russian island that lies north of Japan.

Elena Dorofeeva, 63-year-old deputy director of a ministerial department, was described as an experienced diver by Russian media, which is reporting that the incident resulted from a dangerous assumption made by a diving instructor, named only as Pavel.

The plan had been to descend to the wreck of the Anabar, a dredger that sank in the Tatar Strait in 2010 after hitting rocks near the small island of Moneron, some 40km from Sakhalin.

Pavel had told Dorofeeva that the plan was for them descend from the dive-boat and meet at a depth of 25m. She had begun the dive but the instructor, realising only as he was about to enter that he was underweighted, had failed to follow her down immediately.

Unaware of currents

Dorofeeva had re-ascended and waited for Pavel at 5m, but was unaware that currents were carrying her away from the dive-boat. By the time she finally surfaced the vessel was some 500m away, but she was unable to attract anyone’s attention.

Pavel had assumed that she had continued the dive with another guide from the boat. Only later did he realise that she was missing, and raised the alarm.

A search began, involving a helicopter and divers at the scene. As night fell, Dorofeeva could make out the rescuers’ lights onshore but was unable to attract attention. 

Sea temperatures in the area range from 15-18°C in August, and by the next morning the diver had also found herself in the middle of a storm. She had fixed one of her orange fins to a floating stick to form a makeshift flag, and waved it when a vessel, the Otto Schmidt, passed nearby. 

Dorofeeva was rescued 15km from the coast and brought to Moneron, where a medical examination was said to show her to be unharmed. Sakhalin authorities are now investigating the incident.