A Discover Scuba Diving session during which a 14-year-old boy sustained injuries from a boat propeller has set Indonesia’s biggest dive operator at loggerheads with the youngster’s parents.
The incident occurred on 23 May, when Blue Marlin Dive Gili Trawangan, a PADI 5* dive resort off the north-west coast of Lombok, took Indian holiday-maker Aaryan Pathania out to sample diving at a site called Turtle Heaven.
The teenager was at all times under the direct supervision of his instructor, according to Blue Marlin Dive.
“During surface repositioning, and despite the instructor’s immediate efforts to guide and pull Aaryan away from the vessel, prevailing surface conditions contributed to Aaryan coming into incidental contact with the boat,” the resort’s legal representative Satiya Wirawan has explained in correspondence with the Pathania family.
This contact resulted in lacerations to Aaryan’s lower leg and abrasions to both feet, injuries later described by Blue Marlin Dive as minor.
After carrying out an internal inquiry, the dive resort denies allegations of operational negligence and breach of applicable safety standards made by Aaryan’s father. Manish Pathania says that witnesses had been aware of the dive-boat engine running while divers were in the water, and that the driver had consequently been negligent.
“It is common practice to momentarily run the engine on a boat to keep it from hitting the reef,” says Wirawan. “After the engine is turned off, the propeller rotates for a while before stopping completely.
“The superficial nature of the cuts clearly prove the engine and propeller were not running at the time of the incident. If they were, the injuries would have been far worse.”
First aid had been administered at the scene, before Aaryan was taken to a medical facility on Lombok for the wounds to be cleaned and sutured. Offered the chance to have him taken to an “international-standard hospital”, Wirawan says that the family had preferred the nearby clinic so that they could get back to Gili Trawangan with least disruption to their travel plans.
Blue Marlin Dive had covered all medical and travel expenses and incidentals up to the family’s departure, and its offer of an overnight stay on Gili Trawangan to allow Aaryan’s wounds extra time to stabilise had been turned down.
When the family had requested business-class upgrades on their flight back to India for all three members, because Aaryan required extra leg-room, Blue Marine had agreed to cover the cost of two of those upgrades.
Duty of care
The Pathania family maintain that Blue Marlin Dive had a duty of care toward a minor under its supervision during an official PADI experience, and that it had lacked empathy in subsequent dealings and was trying to avoid accountability.
They have now requested compensation of 3 million Indian rupees (about £25,500) to cover the cost of medical and psychological treatment, loss of school time and “pain, suffering and distress caused to Aaryan and our family”.
Manish Pathania claims that his son had needed more stitches than had been understood by the dive-centre, had temporarily developed lower back pain, remained anxious around water and had missed classes as the result of psychological distress.
Blue Marlin Dive counters that it had already paid out almost 96 million Indonesian rupiahs (about £4,300) in its immediate response to the incident on a goodwill basis and without admission of liability, and that this constituted final settlement.
No travel insurance claim had been declared at the time by the family, and Blue Marlin suggests that any further claim should be brought through their travel- or health-insurance provider.
‘Veiled attempt’
Describing the Pathanias’ demands as “a veiled attempt at extortion”, Wirawan says that the family refuses to accept that Aaryan’s injuries were limited to five “superficial lacerations” and that he had been expected to make a good recovery.
Blue Marlin Dive was started in 1990 on Gili Trawangan by British diving instructor and technical diver Simon Liddiard who, with his wife Jane, owns Blue Marlin Dive UK.
The company now says that it is the largest dive operator in Indonesia, with locations not only on Gili Trawangan but on Gili Meno, Gili Air, Komodo, Senggigi Lombok and Kuta Lombok. The operation runs 12 dayboats and two liveaboards.
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Blue Marlin Response
Immediate first aid and professional assistance were rendered by Blue Marlin’s trained dive team at the site. Transfer to a certified medical clinic in Lombok was arranged without delay. In fact, when the transfer was requested to Bali/Jakarta by Blue Marlin, it was Mr. Pathania’s position that the injuries were not that severe and that they did not want to derail their travel plans. Clearly, a shift from trivialising their son’s injury to now claiming that the child is under deep trauma shows that Mr. Pathania has abdicated any responsibility from his own shoulders without good reason. A deeper investigation will show that the child is completely fine and has in fact been playing sports at school.
Despite all waivers having been signed by Mr. Pathania and his family, all medical expenses, travel costs, logistical requirements, and incidental outlays were borne entirely by Blue Marlin Dive in good faith, notwithstanding the prior execution of a liability waiver. Mr. Pathania, despite being the beneficiary of such provisions, was haggling and negotiating for more luxuries to be provided to him. Blue Marlin not only accommodated these requests in order to ensure comfort and care, but Mr. Pathania failed to stop asking for more, and it was only after a cease-and-desist notice was issued to him that he realised his ruse had been caught.
Business-class flight upgrades were arranged for the injured minor and an accompanying guardian for their return to India, in addition to an overnight recovery stay at Gili Trawangan, solely upon the request of the Pathania family, who were keen to continue with their vacation after the injury.
The injuries sustained were medically confirmed as minor and superficial, with no evidence of long-term disability, and recovery was complete. The incident, although occurring under instructor supervision and in prevailing sea conditions, involved no operational failure attributable to Blue Marlin Dive or its instructors. In fact, Mr. Pathania and his family failed to observe proper decorum while on the boat.
