clownfishsydney
Contributor
Have tried to email other dive operator/hotel that was involved in this but they have not responded. Nor has the Vanuatu police officer in charge of the area. Still trying to get information.
US Expat fatality in Vanuatu
- Thread starter DandyDon
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Michael, under similar circumstances, it is unlikely I'd return your emails either. Have you made direct phone calls?
You know that this really needs face to face approach and even then parties are going to be very reluctant.
Best way to get info on an island is to hang out, get people used to you and get on the coconut phone (gossip grapevine)
You know that this really needs face to face approach and even then parties are going to be very reluctant.
Best way to get info on an island is to hang out, get people used to you and get on the coconut phone (gossip grapevine)
clownfishsydney
Contributor
I have now spoken to a fellow member of my dive club who dived with Laila 2 days before she died. Makes it a bit easier to understand what might have happened. I have now viewed video of this dive, she was not a good diver. More to come soon.
Ah! Some progress! Good. Looking forward to your next update.
clownfishsydney
Contributor
I have made multiple attempts to contact the only (alleged) witness to what may have happened. I have emailed a number of times and now phoned numerous times. His mobile phone either does not answer, or today, was off or out of range.
There has been some more developments. The Vanuatu government has contracted an Australian (who I will not name at the moment) to conduct an investigation into this incident. I have spoken to him but as of yesterday, he knew nothing about what has been said to have happened.
I will make one more attempt to contact the witness tomorrow. If unsuccessful, I will post either tomorrow night or the next night a summary of what I have discovered as well as posting on my web site the full story.
There has been some more developments. The Vanuatu government has contracted an Australian (who I will not name at the moment) to conduct an investigation into this incident. I have spoken to him but as of yesterday, he knew nothing about what has been said to have happened.
I will make one more attempt to contact the witness tomorrow. If unsuccessful, I will post either tomorrow night or the next night a summary of what I have discovered as well as posting on my web site the full story.
Michael,
Thanks for your posts and helping the family try to find out what happened in this unfortunate incident.
I'm reminded of the recent double fatality in Subic Bay where a diver was also reported as going back to the wreck after the dive was 'over'. Very strange. In that case the instructor/guide followed him back in and neither of them came out.
I do find your signature rather ironic in the context of this thread
Thanks for your posts and helping the family try to find out what happened in this unfortunate incident.
I'm reminded of the recent double fatality in Subic Bay where a diver was also reported as going back to the wreck after the dive was 'over'. Very strange. In that case the instructor/guide followed him back in and neither of them came out.
I do find your signature rather ironic in the context of this thread
ferris213
Contributor
Thanks for the update Michael, is the reluctant witness a guide working for the shop in question?
clownfishsydney
Contributor
A full article on this incident is on my web site at Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site. I have had to edit to fit this space.
Background
Lailande (Laila) Osunsade was born on 28 June 1979 in Washington DC and was 33 years old. She qualified as a doctor in the US and at some time met Damien Healy who I believe is Irish but now a New Zealander. She worked as a registrar at the Auckland City Hospital in NZ.
She did her first course, the Open Water, in 2004 and her certificate was issued on 13 August 2004. After this she did Advanced Open Water (8 July 2006), Nitrox (15 April 2010), Rescue (5 August 2010), Deep (25 Nov 2011), Peak Performance Buoyancy (26 Nov 2011), Digital Underwater photographer Level 2 (26 Nov 2011) and Diver Propulsion Vehicle (27 November 2011). All these were PADI courses and I think all were done in tropical locations.
As of mid-April 2013 she had completed 40 dives according to her logbook. This means that virtually every one of her dives had been done as part of a dive course. Laila was anything but experienced or competent.
I believe that she did not own any dive equipment, apart from a dive computer (Suunto D9) and maybe a mask and fins. She also had a lycra top (only from her waist up) for protection instead of a wetsuit. It should also be noted that Laila was very overweight.
At 12:05 pm on Saturday 27 April 2013, Dr Laila Osunsade flew from her home in Auckland on Air Vanuatu flight NF51 to Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu. She booked dives with Aquamarine which is now owned by Rehan Sayed.
On Tuesday 30 April 2013 Laila did a dive with a bloke called Rob (surname withheld) who is a member of St George Scuba Club (of which I am a life member). I have spoken to Rob in detail about this. On that day, he booked in to do two dives with Aquamarine. The first one was to the forward holds on the Coolidge and the second to Million Dollar Point. He said that he was not asked to show his certification card and the dive operation seemed very lax.
I now have access to five videos and some photos taken by Rob on the dive. Rob was put in a dive group that was lead by a guide called Simon Toa. The only other person in the group was Laila. He believed that this was Lailas first dive on the wreck and this has been confirmed to me by another person. As her dive gear shows that she had some weights attached to the tank strap (this is not a normal situation), they were probably put there to counteract a problem that she had encountered before of being feet heavy (due to her size and lack of full wetsuit). They were using what appear to be 100 cubic foot tanks (confirmed to me by Rob). These are approximately 12 litres in internal size. Robs computer printout shows that his was filled to 225 bar, so it could be expected that Lailas was filled to at least 220 bar. The water temperature was a warm 28ºC.
Robs computer shows that they started the dive at 10:00 am. In the first video, Laila is visible part of the time and her breathing is also visible for most of it. One of the easiest ways to tell if someone is relaxed and competent when diving is to look at their breathing. As there was no current affecting this descent, the only impact on breathing rates must be the state of relaxation that the diver is in and their fitness.
Generally when I dive I breathe about once every 12 seconds. At the most, in a non-current situation, I might breathe once every 10 seconds. This is very slow breathing. Most other experienced divers breathe about once every six to 10 seconds. On the video, Rob (who is of course taking the video) can be heard to breathe about once every six seconds. Laila can be seen to be breathing about once every two seconds. This indicates she is not relaxed at all or indicates that she is extremely out of condition (I expect it is both).
Anyway from Robs description and the videos, they swam down to the bow and then across the bow between the two bow guns. At this spot, Laila stopped and was attended to by the guide. This shows that she is swimming almost vertical, a sure sign that she was not properly balanced. As mentioned, Laila had a couple of weights attached to the tank strap, presumably in an attempt to counteract a legs heavy situation (remember she was not wearing any covering on her legs so there was no lift provided by a wetsuit down there). She also appears to be overweighted as she is sinking and continually finning to stop sinking. This uses air.
From here they went into Hold 2 (7 minutes into the dive) and then into the wreck. They dived to the back of Hold 2 reaching 34 metres. From here they then went into Hold 1 and then exited out the front of Hold 1 (17 minutes). Another video, shot as they come out of Hold 1, shows Laila for a lot longer than the previous videos. I have calculated that she was breathing once every 1.7 seconds at this time. This is extremely fast and would have not only used a lot of air, but probably led to a lowering of carbon dioxide in her blood system due to shallow breathing. This can lead to light headedness and confusion when the body restricts the flow of blood to the brain. Eventually this can cause fainting and unconsciousness.
Rob told me that Laila was a very bad diver, with her buoyancy all over the place. This means that she was either sinking or floating and not able to stay level at the one depth. The videos confirm this. In addition, Rob has told me that the dive guide, Simon Toa, did not regularly check on them or look back to see that they were still with him. This is relevant later.
The time they exited the wreck was 10:20 am, meaning that they had been underwater for 17 minutes. This is an extremely short bottom time for this dive (should have been about 25 minutes before starting back in my experience).
From here they went back to the bow and then ascended to the deco stop area, reaching there at 10:24 am (21 minutes). At this spot, the dive guide gave Laila an additional tank of air (an 88 or 100 cubic foot tank) which he had dropped off somewhere at the start of the dive. He attached it to her BCD. This was because Laila had almost totally run out of air on the dive. When they got to the deco stop she had used all but 40 bar of a 100 cubic foot tank. Rob still had 100 bar (just under half) at this time and the guide 150 bar. Note that Rob told me that the air was not tainted at all with oil (this is also relevant later).
I have done some calculations (using the printout from Robs computer) which show that Lailas air consumption on this dive must have been about 31 litres per minute (RMV or SAC) to use this much air. On this dive, I would use about 10 to 10.5 litres per minute. Most experienced divers would use about 12 to 15 litres per minute. When someone breathes so rapidly, it is generally shallow breathing, meaning that a full interchange of air is not happening in the lungs. As mentioned above, this leads to less carbon dioxide in the blood (which can cause confusion). This is also serious. Eventually this can cause unconsciousness. I would guess that after this dive Laila had a headache at the minimum.
The dive appears to have ended at about 10:42 am. After this, in what appears to be a changed method of operation, the divers were taken the short distance to Million Dollar Point. The procedure used to be to take divers back to their accommodation for a rest and then do the second dive much later in the day. Million Dollar Point is where the US dumped a huge amount of equipment (trucks, bulldozers, earth moving equipment and more) at the end of the war.
Background
Lailande (Laila) Osunsade was born on 28 June 1979 in Washington DC and was 33 years old. She qualified as a doctor in the US and at some time met Damien Healy who I believe is Irish but now a New Zealander. She worked as a registrar at the Auckland City Hospital in NZ.
She did her first course, the Open Water, in 2004 and her certificate was issued on 13 August 2004. After this she did Advanced Open Water (8 July 2006), Nitrox (15 April 2010), Rescue (5 August 2010), Deep (25 Nov 2011), Peak Performance Buoyancy (26 Nov 2011), Digital Underwater photographer Level 2 (26 Nov 2011) and Diver Propulsion Vehicle (27 November 2011). All these were PADI courses and I think all were done in tropical locations.
As of mid-April 2013 she had completed 40 dives according to her logbook. This means that virtually every one of her dives had been done as part of a dive course. Laila was anything but experienced or competent.
I believe that she did not own any dive equipment, apart from a dive computer (Suunto D9) and maybe a mask and fins. She also had a lycra top (only from her waist up) for protection instead of a wetsuit. It should also be noted that Laila was very overweight.
At 12:05 pm on Saturday 27 April 2013, Dr Laila Osunsade flew from her home in Auckland on Air Vanuatu flight NF51 to Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu. She booked dives with Aquamarine which is now owned by Rehan Sayed.
On Tuesday 30 April 2013 Laila did a dive with a bloke called Rob (surname withheld) who is a member of St George Scuba Club (of which I am a life member). I have spoken to Rob in detail about this. On that day, he booked in to do two dives with Aquamarine. The first one was to the forward holds on the Coolidge and the second to Million Dollar Point. He said that he was not asked to show his certification card and the dive operation seemed very lax.
I now have access to five videos and some photos taken by Rob on the dive. Rob was put in a dive group that was lead by a guide called Simon Toa. The only other person in the group was Laila. He believed that this was Lailas first dive on the wreck and this has been confirmed to me by another person. As her dive gear shows that she had some weights attached to the tank strap (this is not a normal situation), they were probably put there to counteract a problem that she had encountered before of being feet heavy (due to her size and lack of full wetsuit). They were using what appear to be 100 cubic foot tanks (confirmed to me by Rob). These are approximately 12 litres in internal size. Robs computer printout shows that his was filled to 225 bar, so it could be expected that Lailas was filled to at least 220 bar. The water temperature was a warm 28ºC.
Robs computer shows that they started the dive at 10:00 am. In the first video, Laila is visible part of the time and her breathing is also visible for most of it. One of the easiest ways to tell if someone is relaxed and competent when diving is to look at their breathing. As there was no current affecting this descent, the only impact on breathing rates must be the state of relaxation that the diver is in and their fitness.
Generally when I dive I breathe about once every 12 seconds. At the most, in a non-current situation, I might breathe once every 10 seconds. This is very slow breathing. Most other experienced divers breathe about once every six to 10 seconds. On the video, Rob (who is of course taking the video) can be heard to breathe about once every six seconds. Laila can be seen to be breathing about once every two seconds. This indicates she is not relaxed at all or indicates that she is extremely out of condition (I expect it is both).
Anyway from Robs description and the videos, they swam down to the bow and then across the bow between the two bow guns. At this spot, Laila stopped and was attended to by the guide. This shows that she is swimming almost vertical, a sure sign that she was not properly balanced. As mentioned, Laila had a couple of weights attached to the tank strap, presumably in an attempt to counteract a legs heavy situation (remember she was not wearing any covering on her legs so there was no lift provided by a wetsuit down there). She also appears to be overweighted as she is sinking and continually finning to stop sinking. This uses air.
From here they went into Hold 2 (7 minutes into the dive) and then into the wreck. They dived to the back of Hold 2 reaching 34 metres. From here they then went into Hold 1 and then exited out the front of Hold 1 (17 minutes). Another video, shot as they come out of Hold 1, shows Laila for a lot longer than the previous videos. I have calculated that she was breathing once every 1.7 seconds at this time. This is extremely fast and would have not only used a lot of air, but probably led to a lowering of carbon dioxide in her blood system due to shallow breathing. This can lead to light headedness and confusion when the body restricts the flow of blood to the brain. Eventually this can cause fainting and unconsciousness.
Rob told me that Laila was a very bad diver, with her buoyancy all over the place. This means that she was either sinking or floating and not able to stay level at the one depth. The videos confirm this. In addition, Rob has told me that the dive guide, Simon Toa, did not regularly check on them or look back to see that they were still with him. This is relevant later.
The time they exited the wreck was 10:20 am, meaning that they had been underwater for 17 minutes. This is an extremely short bottom time for this dive (should have been about 25 minutes before starting back in my experience).
From here they went back to the bow and then ascended to the deco stop area, reaching there at 10:24 am (21 minutes). At this spot, the dive guide gave Laila an additional tank of air (an 88 or 100 cubic foot tank) which he had dropped off somewhere at the start of the dive. He attached it to her BCD. This was because Laila had almost totally run out of air on the dive. When they got to the deco stop she had used all but 40 bar of a 100 cubic foot tank. Rob still had 100 bar (just under half) at this time and the guide 150 bar. Note that Rob told me that the air was not tainted at all with oil (this is also relevant later).
I have done some calculations (using the printout from Robs computer) which show that Lailas air consumption on this dive must have been about 31 litres per minute (RMV or SAC) to use this much air. On this dive, I would use about 10 to 10.5 litres per minute. Most experienced divers would use about 12 to 15 litres per minute. When someone breathes so rapidly, it is generally shallow breathing, meaning that a full interchange of air is not happening in the lungs. As mentioned above, this leads to less carbon dioxide in the blood (which can cause confusion). This is also serious. Eventually this can cause unconsciousness. I would guess that after this dive Laila had a headache at the minimum.
The dive appears to have ended at about 10:42 am. After this, in what appears to be a changed method of operation, the divers were taken the short distance to Million Dollar Point. The procedure used to be to take divers back to their accommodation for a rest and then do the second dive much later in the day. Million Dollar Point is where the US dumped a huge amount of equipment (trucks, bulldozers, earth moving equipment and more) at the end of the war.
clownfishsydney
Contributor
Part 2
The same day a group from a Brisbane dive shop arrived at Santo and on 1 May 2013 they began diving with Aquamarine. The leader of this group (John) has advised me that the air they used was very bad and tasted extremely strongly of oil. This indicates that the compressor filters were not being replaced at the time they should be. The dive medical bible Diving and Subaquatic Medicine (now called Diving Medicine for Scuba Divers and available free on the internet at Diving Medicine for SCUBA Divers) says that while oil in air will make you feel bad, it will not kill you. Generally the presence of oil in compressed air does not indicate that it contains too much carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide.
Laila appears to have done two more dives on this day (1 May 2013).
Anyway, John complained to the owner of Aquamarine, Mr Sayed, about the quality of the air supplied. He attempted to empty and refill some tanks but they still were tainted with the oil. In addition, it was reported to me that none of the tanks had been tested since about 2008 or so. John insisted that Mr Sayed get tanks from one of the other operators for them to use the next day. This happened and they had tanks owned by Santo Island Dive when they went diving on 2 May 2013.
The Fatal Dive
On Thursday 2 May 2013 Laila was again diving the wreck. She was still diving with Aquamarine and today was being guided by the same local Ni-Vanuatu guide (Simon Toa) as on her 30 April 2013 dive with Rob. She was the only diver with him. It was reported to me that Lailas tank was one owned by Aquamarine and thus, was probably carrying oil tainted air.
The dive plan was said to be to the Doctors Office (according to newspaper reports) although John believed they were going to The Lady. Whilst The Lady is a relatively simple dive (she is now at the front of the First Class Dining Room rather than at the stern end of this room), the Doctors Office is one of the harder dives in that it goes to a place almost in the centre of the wreck at a depth of about 42 metres. To get there you may even go to about 45 metres, although there are a number of routes that can be used. Personally I find it strange that they would agree to take Laila to either of these locations considering her apparent inability to dive in a correct orientation as well as the fact she ran out of air on a simpler and shallower dive two days earlier.
The following is based on statements given to the police as well as conversations I have had with people present on the day. Note that I am not convinced yet that parts of the story are accurate and I will explain this later.
I had assumed that they swam out a bit before descending, but this might not be correct. I based this on reports that give the time when the dive was called (see later). My description of the dive is based on how it is normally done and information in police reports. Visibility was reported to be about 10 metres on the day and the water temperature would still have been 28ºC.
Anyway, Toa and Laila descended and swam along the starboard side of the wreck (17 metres at first and then deepens on a slope) and entered the wreck via what is called Euarts Door. This is the door that was the main access door for passengers to enter the ship when she was tied up at a wharf. It is at 23 metres and leads into the Main Lobby. The First Class Dining Room comes off this lobby on the stern side. This should have taken no longer than five to six minutes.
From here you they travelled through the dining room and then to the Doctors Office. They would have gradually dropped from about 30 metres at the bow end of the dining room to 42 metres. This is a very small room where they would have ascended a metre partially into the room through the cabin door (the ship is on its side so the door is above you). In here they would have looked at the medical equipment and supplies that are still present over 70 years after the Coolidge sank.
Simon Toa reported that when in here Laila indicated she could not dive any further (from police report). At this point I do not know if this is an accurate recording of what she indicated nor how she indicated this. It is also reported that this was 10 minutes into the dive. In my experience, this also indicates to me that they had started the dive right at the deco area and swum to the bow and down across the starboard railing of the wreck as I stated above. I base this on the fact that the last time I dived the Doctors Office (2007) I departed the room at 8 minutes but we had we had swum out further and entered via the area near the Swimming Pool which is a bit deeper. In 1999 when I dived this spot, we arrived at the Doctors Office at 9 minutes having started near the deco area.
As I have already mentioned, leaving the room at 10 minutes seems to mean that they left as soon as they arrived. Toa reported that they left the wreck and started back for the bow area. Presumably they went back through the dining room and then ascended up and out through Euarts Door. This would take 4 minutes at least.
When he checked behind him to see how Laila was going, she was not there. The police report does not make it clear when and where this happened, but I have been told by the former owner of Aquamarine that they were outside the wreck when this happened.
It seems that this was witnessed by another diver (his first name is Justin but he calls himself Jack I believe he might be American but perhaps living in Melbourne). I have attempted many times to speak to him via email and phone and actually spoke to him for a few seconds before the connection dropped out but there has been no discussion yet as to what happened. I am told that he told Rayman Lueng, owner of the hotel where Laila was staying, that he (Jack) saw Laila re-enter the wreck via Euarts Door. I have also been told this by John (the leader of the Brisbane group) who was also told this by Jack.
John told me that Jack saw Laila swimming back along the starboard side (the shallowest part of the wreck) and re-entering Euarts Door. As mentioned, this is the simplest way in and out of the wreck if diving The Lady and Doctors Office. It is not known why she did this. I can only speculate that she had dropped something (her torch? her computer?). In any case, it seems that she could not find her way out of the wreck. The time when she reached the spot where she was found, if all that was stated above did occur, was 17 minutes.
Note: the alternative to above is that Jack actually saw Laila entering the wreck at the start of the dive following Toa, but that Toa was not seen by Jack.
John told me that Toa said that when he looked behind for Laila, she was not there. This was said to be before he got to the bow. It is about 100 metres from Euarts Door to the bow, so assuming that he confirmed she was with him as they came out of the door and then again a minute later, I expect that he was probably approaching the bow when he again looked and noticed her missing. I would not assume that they were swimming beside each other as I very rarely see people do that when being led by a guide.
If this is what happened, then if Laila turned around soon after the first time she was checked on after exiting the door, she could have easily swum back to the door and re-entered before Toa would know she was missing. Remember that visibility was said to be only 10 metres, so a pair of divers swimming in opposite directions will be out of view in only a few seconds. I assume that Toa tried to find her but at this depth (probably 20 to 25 metres) he would not have had much time to look for her considering he would have already had a reasonable decompression obligation.
He also probably assumed that she had perhaps stopped to look at something and then not seeing Toa, had followed a different part of the wreck (say the railing) towards the bow or even perhaps dropped a bit deeper across the top of the forward holds. It would be almost impossible to try to refind a diver at this location in my opinion (remember I have done over 100 dives on this wreck).
No matter what, Toa then decided to head back to the bow area and ascend. I am certain that he would have had to do decompression by now. Of course he would have had to complete this before ascending as to do otherwise would have endangered his own life.
Once back at the bow area and then after ascending, Toa alerted the other staff of Aquamarine and customers that he was missing a diver. A dive guide with ear problems and John (who had just surfaced) swam out and snorkelled over the wreck. A short search would have been made to look for bubbles at the decompression site and over the wreck and also to check on any divers still in the water to see if she had accidentally got linked to another group (this can be common).
Finally, a number of divers went back into the water (David and Tulah dive guides) using three-quarter empty tanks and carrying unused stage bottles and they entered the wreck and found Laila. Toa did not go as he was said to be a quivering wreck (and he could not have considering he had only surfaced then). Laila was found near The Lady which is at 42 metres (140 feet) and not breathing. Her regulator was out of her mouth but she still had about 100 bar (I have also been told it was 50 bar but more have said 100, including John who looked at her gauge). Her finger nails appeared to have debris that would indicate she had scrapped at the inside of the wreck (witnessed by John).
Her dive computer was beeping and one of the people took it off her wrist (at least this is what has been thought to have happened) as the beeping was annoying them. It is also possible that her computer was found off her body (if she had dropped it). Her Suunto D9 dive computer has optional air integration, but from the video and photos I have access to, she does not seem to have a transmitter on her first stage.
Therefore, it is unlikely that the computer was beeping because she did not have enough air to complete the dive considering the decompression that would have now been required. The computer also indicates an error message if the bottom time is too long. I am not sure what is considered too long or if this also includes a beeping sound.
Laila was then brought towards the shore and John and perhaps another of the snorkellers took her body from the divers as they had decompression to do. From all reports she was missing at least 20 minutes before being brought to the surface. Her dive computer was handed by the divers to Rehan who then was witnessed giving it to the police. Rehan would not let John view the computer.
For the first 10 or 15 minutes after she surfaced, there was clear/white froth coming out of her mouth. Her mouth had froth coming out of it as soon as her body was brought to the surface. After the first ten or 15 it was intermittent as we managed to get a small amount of air into her lungs having pumped out all of the other foam (quote from John).
One of the other divers present diving with Aquamarine was an Australian anaesthesiologist (from South Australia) who started attempts to revive Laila. She and others attempted to get oxygen gear from the Aquamarine vehicle but there was nothing there. Meanwhile, someone made a phone call and as a result, Rayman Lueng (owner of Espiritu Hotel) or one of his staff, phoned an Australian called David Ellaby.
Ellaby is an intensive care paramedic who works for the Queensland Ambulance Service and also crews on the Sunshine Coast Helicopter Rescue Service helicopter. He was present in Luganville with a Christian group who are in the process of establishing a medical clinic. Ellaby was in town when he received the call and he hailed a taxi and headed to the clinic to grab some equipment. Meanwhile, the hotel sent a car to collect him and then took him and the equipment (including some drugs and a defibrillator) to the dive site.
On the way, Ellaby phoned the ambulance. It seems that they had not been called before this, although this may not be correct. Note that there is only one ambulance serving the whole island (almost 4,000 square kilometres) and it has no real medical equipment as would be found in an ambulance in the US or Australia and is normally only operated by a wardsman or at best, a nurse.
When he arrived at the site where the dive shops base their dives, Ellaby found the Australian doctor and the other divers still performing CPR. She was very glad to see him as he had far more experience in this sort of work than she did. Despite a lot of work, Laila never regained consciousness. The ambulance finally arrived 40 to 45 minutes after Ellaby called it, although this had no impact on the chances of Laila surviving.
The froth that was reported to come from Lailas mouth when she surfaced is an indication that Laila died from drowning.
At 12:05 pm, the police were finally called. The call came not from staff of Aquamarine, but from Mal Davies, the owner of another dive shop, Santo Island Dive. The police record that they arrived on site at 12:10 pm, but I personally think it would have been later considering the time taken to drive out to the site from town. There were a number of police officers who attended, but I am not sure who they were as the report does not even mention who the writer is. At least two were considered to be investigators, but you should be aware that the training and equipment they have is very basic compared to that of police in Australia.
At this time Lailas body was lying on the sand/coral beach and covered with towels. At 12:25 pm the police officer who wrote the report stated that he had completed his work.
Lailas body was taken to the hospital in Luganville (again this is very basic and really survives to a degree on New Zealand medical schools sending their partly trained doctors there for work experience). Here she was examined by a doctor and a Death Certificate (No 163) was issued by an unknown doctor who stated that Laila died from unknown cause awaiting corona (sic) report. The same day Senior Magistrate Rita Bill Navita visited the hospital and two days later he issued an Order for Buriel (sic).
The police seized at least some of the equipment involved in this incident. I believe that the dive computer and tank were taken (the computer was witnessed being handed to them). The dive computer is a very important clue to what happened, as it has an on-board memory that retains the profile of the dive. This can be viewed by accessing the log book function or, even better, downloaded via USB cable to a computer and viewed using certain software programs. This should be able to confirm if Laila did exit the wreck as said and when she re-entered it.
Testing the air would also show if there was a correct oxygen level and if there was too much oil, carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide. I have spoken to Dr Carl Edmonds (lead author of Diving and Subaquatic Medicine) and he indicated to me that the normal physical observation of carbon monoxide poisoning, cherry red colour under the victims fingernails, is not very obvious in diving related carbon monoxide poisoning. Therefore, it is likely that if this is the problem, it would not have been noticed by David Ellaby (the paramedic), the female doctor doing the CPR or John. In fact, John has confirmed to me that there was no colouring and it seems that he specifically looked for this. Therefore it is unlikely that carbon monoxide poisoning is relevant to what happened.
On 11 May 2013 Lailas body was then taken to New Zealand. A post mortem was done in Auckland. I do not have any real indication of what was found other than on 13 May 2013 the Coronial Services Unit wrote to Lailas husband, Damien, and advised that the early result of the post mortem was unascertained pending investigations. Dr Edmonds also indicated to me that the blood samples should show if carbon monoxide levels were too high. Hopefully the full post mortem results will reveal something about this.
Alternative Scenario
The only real alternative to what happened as outlined above is that Laila never actually exited the wreck. This actually has a lot of credence, as based on the amount of air she used on the dive (120 bar), I cannot reconcile this with the dive as stated. For example, if she used air at the same rate that she used it on the dive on the wreck on 30 April 2013 (31 litres per minute), then she would have used 172 bar leaving 48 bar in her tank. Remember that when the tank was found it had 100 bar.
To fit the amount of air used into the timeframe as described by Simon Toa, I have used my dive in 1999 to the Doctors Office and then backtracked to end the dive at 17 minutes. To get the ending tank pressure of 100 bar for this dive, Lailas air consumption would have had to be 18 litres per minute.
Therefore, it seems impossible to me that Lailas air consumption improved from 31 to 18 litres per minute in only a few dives. The only solution to this quandary for me is that she died much earlier than has been reported. If I put her air consumption of 31 litres per minute into the scenario, she stops breathing at 11 minutes, not the 17 minutes that the reports indicate what happened.
The same day a group from a Brisbane dive shop arrived at Santo and on 1 May 2013 they began diving with Aquamarine. The leader of this group (John) has advised me that the air they used was very bad and tasted extremely strongly of oil. This indicates that the compressor filters were not being replaced at the time they should be. The dive medical bible Diving and Subaquatic Medicine (now called Diving Medicine for Scuba Divers and available free on the internet at Diving Medicine for SCUBA Divers) says that while oil in air will make you feel bad, it will not kill you. Generally the presence of oil in compressed air does not indicate that it contains too much carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide.
Laila appears to have done two more dives on this day (1 May 2013).
Anyway, John complained to the owner of Aquamarine, Mr Sayed, about the quality of the air supplied. He attempted to empty and refill some tanks but they still were tainted with the oil. In addition, it was reported to me that none of the tanks had been tested since about 2008 or so. John insisted that Mr Sayed get tanks from one of the other operators for them to use the next day. This happened and they had tanks owned by Santo Island Dive when they went diving on 2 May 2013.
The Fatal Dive
On Thursday 2 May 2013 Laila was again diving the wreck. She was still diving with Aquamarine and today was being guided by the same local Ni-Vanuatu guide (Simon Toa) as on her 30 April 2013 dive with Rob. She was the only diver with him. It was reported to me that Lailas tank was one owned by Aquamarine and thus, was probably carrying oil tainted air.
The dive plan was said to be to the Doctors Office (according to newspaper reports) although John believed they were going to The Lady. Whilst The Lady is a relatively simple dive (she is now at the front of the First Class Dining Room rather than at the stern end of this room), the Doctors Office is one of the harder dives in that it goes to a place almost in the centre of the wreck at a depth of about 42 metres. To get there you may even go to about 45 metres, although there are a number of routes that can be used. Personally I find it strange that they would agree to take Laila to either of these locations considering her apparent inability to dive in a correct orientation as well as the fact she ran out of air on a simpler and shallower dive two days earlier.
The following is based on statements given to the police as well as conversations I have had with people present on the day. Note that I am not convinced yet that parts of the story are accurate and I will explain this later.
I had assumed that they swam out a bit before descending, but this might not be correct. I based this on reports that give the time when the dive was called (see later). My description of the dive is based on how it is normally done and information in police reports. Visibility was reported to be about 10 metres on the day and the water temperature would still have been 28ºC.
Anyway, Toa and Laila descended and swam along the starboard side of the wreck (17 metres at first and then deepens on a slope) and entered the wreck via what is called Euarts Door. This is the door that was the main access door for passengers to enter the ship when she was tied up at a wharf. It is at 23 metres and leads into the Main Lobby. The First Class Dining Room comes off this lobby on the stern side. This should have taken no longer than five to six minutes.
From here you they travelled through the dining room and then to the Doctors Office. They would have gradually dropped from about 30 metres at the bow end of the dining room to 42 metres. This is a very small room where they would have ascended a metre partially into the room through the cabin door (the ship is on its side so the door is above you). In here they would have looked at the medical equipment and supplies that are still present over 70 years after the Coolidge sank.
Simon Toa reported that when in here Laila indicated she could not dive any further (from police report). At this point I do not know if this is an accurate recording of what she indicated nor how she indicated this. It is also reported that this was 10 minutes into the dive. In my experience, this also indicates to me that they had started the dive right at the deco area and swum to the bow and down across the starboard railing of the wreck as I stated above. I base this on the fact that the last time I dived the Doctors Office (2007) I departed the room at 8 minutes but we had we had swum out further and entered via the area near the Swimming Pool which is a bit deeper. In 1999 when I dived this spot, we arrived at the Doctors Office at 9 minutes having started near the deco area.
As I have already mentioned, leaving the room at 10 minutes seems to mean that they left as soon as they arrived. Toa reported that they left the wreck and started back for the bow area. Presumably they went back through the dining room and then ascended up and out through Euarts Door. This would take 4 minutes at least.
When he checked behind him to see how Laila was going, she was not there. The police report does not make it clear when and where this happened, but I have been told by the former owner of Aquamarine that they were outside the wreck when this happened.
It seems that this was witnessed by another diver (his first name is Justin but he calls himself Jack I believe he might be American but perhaps living in Melbourne). I have attempted many times to speak to him via email and phone and actually spoke to him for a few seconds before the connection dropped out but there has been no discussion yet as to what happened. I am told that he told Rayman Lueng, owner of the hotel where Laila was staying, that he (Jack) saw Laila re-enter the wreck via Euarts Door. I have also been told this by John (the leader of the Brisbane group) who was also told this by Jack.
John told me that Jack saw Laila swimming back along the starboard side (the shallowest part of the wreck) and re-entering Euarts Door. As mentioned, this is the simplest way in and out of the wreck if diving The Lady and Doctors Office. It is not known why she did this. I can only speculate that she had dropped something (her torch? her computer?). In any case, it seems that she could not find her way out of the wreck. The time when she reached the spot where she was found, if all that was stated above did occur, was 17 minutes.
Note: the alternative to above is that Jack actually saw Laila entering the wreck at the start of the dive following Toa, but that Toa was not seen by Jack.
John told me that Toa said that when he looked behind for Laila, she was not there. This was said to be before he got to the bow. It is about 100 metres from Euarts Door to the bow, so assuming that he confirmed she was with him as they came out of the door and then again a minute later, I expect that he was probably approaching the bow when he again looked and noticed her missing. I would not assume that they were swimming beside each other as I very rarely see people do that when being led by a guide.
If this is what happened, then if Laila turned around soon after the first time she was checked on after exiting the door, she could have easily swum back to the door and re-entered before Toa would know she was missing. Remember that visibility was said to be only 10 metres, so a pair of divers swimming in opposite directions will be out of view in only a few seconds. I assume that Toa tried to find her but at this depth (probably 20 to 25 metres) he would not have had much time to look for her considering he would have already had a reasonable decompression obligation.
He also probably assumed that she had perhaps stopped to look at something and then not seeing Toa, had followed a different part of the wreck (say the railing) towards the bow or even perhaps dropped a bit deeper across the top of the forward holds. It would be almost impossible to try to refind a diver at this location in my opinion (remember I have done over 100 dives on this wreck).
No matter what, Toa then decided to head back to the bow area and ascend. I am certain that he would have had to do decompression by now. Of course he would have had to complete this before ascending as to do otherwise would have endangered his own life.
Once back at the bow area and then after ascending, Toa alerted the other staff of Aquamarine and customers that he was missing a diver. A dive guide with ear problems and John (who had just surfaced) swam out and snorkelled over the wreck. A short search would have been made to look for bubbles at the decompression site and over the wreck and also to check on any divers still in the water to see if she had accidentally got linked to another group (this can be common).
Finally, a number of divers went back into the water (David and Tulah dive guides) using three-quarter empty tanks and carrying unused stage bottles and they entered the wreck and found Laila. Toa did not go as he was said to be a quivering wreck (and he could not have considering he had only surfaced then). Laila was found near The Lady which is at 42 metres (140 feet) and not breathing. Her regulator was out of her mouth but she still had about 100 bar (I have also been told it was 50 bar but more have said 100, including John who looked at her gauge). Her finger nails appeared to have debris that would indicate she had scrapped at the inside of the wreck (witnessed by John).
Her dive computer was beeping and one of the people took it off her wrist (at least this is what has been thought to have happened) as the beeping was annoying them. It is also possible that her computer was found off her body (if she had dropped it). Her Suunto D9 dive computer has optional air integration, but from the video and photos I have access to, she does not seem to have a transmitter on her first stage.
Therefore, it is unlikely that the computer was beeping because she did not have enough air to complete the dive considering the decompression that would have now been required. The computer also indicates an error message if the bottom time is too long. I am not sure what is considered too long or if this also includes a beeping sound.
Laila was then brought towards the shore and John and perhaps another of the snorkellers took her body from the divers as they had decompression to do. From all reports she was missing at least 20 minutes before being brought to the surface. Her dive computer was handed by the divers to Rehan who then was witnessed giving it to the police. Rehan would not let John view the computer.
For the first 10 or 15 minutes after she surfaced, there was clear/white froth coming out of her mouth. Her mouth had froth coming out of it as soon as her body was brought to the surface. After the first ten or 15 it was intermittent as we managed to get a small amount of air into her lungs having pumped out all of the other foam (quote from John).
One of the other divers present diving with Aquamarine was an Australian anaesthesiologist (from South Australia) who started attempts to revive Laila. She and others attempted to get oxygen gear from the Aquamarine vehicle but there was nothing there. Meanwhile, someone made a phone call and as a result, Rayman Lueng (owner of Espiritu Hotel) or one of his staff, phoned an Australian called David Ellaby.
Ellaby is an intensive care paramedic who works for the Queensland Ambulance Service and also crews on the Sunshine Coast Helicopter Rescue Service helicopter. He was present in Luganville with a Christian group who are in the process of establishing a medical clinic. Ellaby was in town when he received the call and he hailed a taxi and headed to the clinic to grab some equipment. Meanwhile, the hotel sent a car to collect him and then took him and the equipment (including some drugs and a defibrillator) to the dive site.
On the way, Ellaby phoned the ambulance. It seems that they had not been called before this, although this may not be correct. Note that there is only one ambulance serving the whole island (almost 4,000 square kilometres) and it has no real medical equipment as would be found in an ambulance in the US or Australia and is normally only operated by a wardsman or at best, a nurse.
When he arrived at the site where the dive shops base their dives, Ellaby found the Australian doctor and the other divers still performing CPR. She was very glad to see him as he had far more experience in this sort of work than she did. Despite a lot of work, Laila never regained consciousness. The ambulance finally arrived 40 to 45 minutes after Ellaby called it, although this had no impact on the chances of Laila surviving.
The froth that was reported to come from Lailas mouth when she surfaced is an indication that Laila died from drowning.
At 12:05 pm, the police were finally called. The call came not from staff of Aquamarine, but from Mal Davies, the owner of another dive shop, Santo Island Dive. The police record that they arrived on site at 12:10 pm, but I personally think it would have been later considering the time taken to drive out to the site from town. There were a number of police officers who attended, but I am not sure who they were as the report does not even mention who the writer is. At least two were considered to be investigators, but you should be aware that the training and equipment they have is very basic compared to that of police in Australia.
At this time Lailas body was lying on the sand/coral beach and covered with towels. At 12:25 pm the police officer who wrote the report stated that he had completed his work.
Lailas body was taken to the hospital in Luganville (again this is very basic and really survives to a degree on New Zealand medical schools sending their partly trained doctors there for work experience). Here she was examined by a doctor and a Death Certificate (No 163) was issued by an unknown doctor who stated that Laila died from unknown cause awaiting corona (sic) report. The same day Senior Magistrate Rita Bill Navita visited the hospital and two days later he issued an Order for Buriel (sic).
The police seized at least some of the equipment involved in this incident. I believe that the dive computer and tank were taken (the computer was witnessed being handed to them). The dive computer is a very important clue to what happened, as it has an on-board memory that retains the profile of the dive. This can be viewed by accessing the log book function or, even better, downloaded via USB cable to a computer and viewed using certain software programs. This should be able to confirm if Laila did exit the wreck as said and when she re-entered it.
Testing the air would also show if there was a correct oxygen level and if there was too much oil, carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide. I have spoken to Dr Carl Edmonds (lead author of Diving and Subaquatic Medicine) and he indicated to me that the normal physical observation of carbon monoxide poisoning, cherry red colour under the victims fingernails, is not very obvious in diving related carbon monoxide poisoning. Therefore, it is likely that if this is the problem, it would not have been noticed by David Ellaby (the paramedic), the female doctor doing the CPR or John. In fact, John has confirmed to me that there was no colouring and it seems that he specifically looked for this. Therefore it is unlikely that carbon monoxide poisoning is relevant to what happened.
On 11 May 2013 Lailas body was then taken to New Zealand. A post mortem was done in Auckland. I do not have any real indication of what was found other than on 13 May 2013 the Coronial Services Unit wrote to Lailas husband, Damien, and advised that the early result of the post mortem was unascertained pending investigations. Dr Edmonds also indicated to me that the blood samples should show if carbon monoxide levels were too high. Hopefully the full post mortem results will reveal something about this.
Alternative Scenario
The only real alternative to what happened as outlined above is that Laila never actually exited the wreck. This actually has a lot of credence, as based on the amount of air she used on the dive (120 bar), I cannot reconcile this with the dive as stated. For example, if she used air at the same rate that she used it on the dive on the wreck on 30 April 2013 (31 litres per minute), then she would have used 172 bar leaving 48 bar in her tank. Remember that when the tank was found it had 100 bar.
To fit the amount of air used into the timeframe as described by Simon Toa, I have used my dive in 1999 to the Doctors Office and then backtracked to end the dive at 17 minutes. To get the ending tank pressure of 100 bar for this dive, Lailas air consumption would have had to be 18 litres per minute.
Therefore, it seems impossible to me that Lailas air consumption improved from 31 to 18 litres per minute in only a few dives. The only solution to this quandary for me is that she died much earlier than has been reported. If I put her air consumption of 31 litres per minute into the scenario, she stops breathing at 11 minutes, not the 17 minutes that the reports indicate what happened.
clownfishsydney
Contributor
Part 3
Things that need to be investigated further
Her dive computer needs to be examined and the profile downloaded. This will show definitively what she did on the dive. If she did indeed exit the wreck, swim a short way along the wreck and then re-enter, it will be shown. If there is no indication that she ascended to 23 or so metres, then someone is telling lies.
How Did Laila Die?
Quite clearly it would seem she drowned.
What Caused Laila to Die?
This is harder to answer.
Option 1
Assuming the story been told by Toa and Jack is correct, then it seems that for some reason Laila re-entered the wreck. Once inside, it seems that Laila may have panicked, possibly because she could not find her way out, and breathing even more rapidly than before she passed out. As she had debris under her finger nails, then it is more likely that this was the likely scenario. Once passed out, her regulator fell out of her mouth and she then sucked in water and drowned.
Option 2
Her rapid breathing (as shown in the videos from her 30 April 2013 dive) was enough to cause her to pass out. Once passed out, her regulator fell out of her mouth and she then sucked in water and drowned.
Option 3
Her rapid breathing (as shown in the videos from her 30 April 2013 dive) combined with doing the Valsalva manoeuvre (equalising the pressure in your ears by holding your nose and exhaling) as she dropped back into the wreck caused her to pass out. This is a known possibility for someone who is hyperventilating. Once passed out, her regulator fell out of her mouth and she then sucked in water and drowned.
Option 4
Laila did not exit the wreck and she panicked when she first came inside and passed out. The dive guide was not able to assist her due to her panicking and being inside the wreck and also her size. Once passed out, her regulator fell out of her mouth and she then sucked in water and drowned. The guide panicked and left the wreck without her.
Option 5
Laila did not exit the wreck and she got separated from the guide when inside the wreck. She panicked and passed out. The dive guide was not able to find her or if he did, she was already unconscious or dead. Once passed out, her regulator fell out of her mouth and she then sucked in water and drowned. Due to her size, he was not able to assist her out of the wreck. The guide panicked and left the wreck without her.
For all of the above, she would have passed out because the rapid shallow breathing (hyperventilation) reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood and this causes the blood vessels in the brain to restrict, drawing oxygenated blood away from the brain. This then causes light headedness and fainting.
The other matters to be considered:
· was the air tainted and did this contribute to what happened?
· did the dive guide keep a close enough track on Laila and fulfil his obligations?
· should the dive operator have let her do this dive (to a hard part of the wreck) considering her previous event of running out of air and her obvious bad diving skills?
What happens Now?
I have emailed Damien Healy, Laila’s husband, urging him to lobby the New Zealand High Commissioner (Ambassador) in Port Vila to attempt to get Laila’s computer from the police and transfer it to NZ for examination. This is essential and the only way to really work out what happened without any doubt.
The Vanuatu Government has now contracted a well-known Australian diver (who I will not at this time name) to investigate this incident. I have spoken to him and have forwarded him the results of my investigations. Hopefully he will be able to work out what happened.
Things that need to be investigated further
Her dive computer needs to be examined and the profile downloaded. This will show definitively what she did on the dive. If she did indeed exit the wreck, swim a short way along the wreck and then re-enter, it will be shown. If there is no indication that she ascended to 23 or so metres, then someone is telling lies.
How Did Laila Die?
Quite clearly it would seem she drowned.
What Caused Laila to Die?
This is harder to answer.
Option 1
Assuming the story been told by Toa and Jack is correct, then it seems that for some reason Laila re-entered the wreck. Once inside, it seems that Laila may have panicked, possibly because she could not find her way out, and breathing even more rapidly than before she passed out. As she had debris under her finger nails, then it is more likely that this was the likely scenario. Once passed out, her regulator fell out of her mouth and she then sucked in water and drowned.
Option 2
Her rapid breathing (as shown in the videos from her 30 April 2013 dive) was enough to cause her to pass out. Once passed out, her regulator fell out of her mouth and she then sucked in water and drowned.
Option 3
Her rapid breathing (as shown in the videos from her 30 April 2013 dive) combined with doing the Valsalva manoeuvre (equalising the pressure in your ears by holding your nose and exhaling) as she dropped back into the wreck caused her to pass out. This is a known possibility for someone who is hyperventilating. Once passed out, her regulator fell out of her mouth and she then sucked in water and drowned.
Option 4
Laila did not exit the wreck and she panicked when she first came inside and passed out. The dive guide was not able to assist her due to her panicking and being inside the wreck and also her size. Once passed out, her regulator fell out of her mouth and she then sucked in water and drowned. The guide panicked and left the wreck without her.
Option 5
Laila did not exit the wreck and she got separated from the guide when inside the wreck. She panicked and passed out. The dive guide was not able to find her or if he did, she was already unconscious or dead. Once passed out, her regulator fell out of her mouth and she then sucked in water and drowned. Due to her size, he was not able to assist her out of the wreck. The guide panicked and left the wreck without her.
For all of the above, she would have passed out because the rapid shallow breathing (hyperventilation) reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood and this causes the blood vessels in the brain to restrict, drawing oxygenated blood away from the brain. This then causes light headedness and fainting.
The other matters to be considered:
· was the air tainted and did this contribute to what happened?
· did the dive guide keep a close enough track on Laila and fulfil his obligations?
· should the dive operator have let her do this dive (to a hard part of the wreck) considering her previous event of running out of air and her obvious bad diving skills?
What happens Now?
I have emailed Damien Healy, Laila’s husband, urging him to lobby the New Zealand High Commissioner (Ambassador) in Port Vila to attempt to get Laila’s computer from the police and transfer it to NZ for examination. This is essential and the only way to really work out what happened without any doubt.
The Vanuatu Government has now contracted a well-known Australian diver (who I will not at this time name) to investigate this incident. I have spoken to him and have forwarded him the results of my investigations. Hopefully he will be able to work out what happened.
Last edited:
Similar threads
