Breda wreck diver missing - Scotland

[DandyDon]

BBC News - Diver goes missing while exploring Breda wreck

A diver exploring the wreck of a cargo ship on the west coast of Scotland has been reported missing.
The man became separated from his group near wreck Breda in Ardmucknish Bay near Oban on Tuesday.
A Royal Navy rescue helicopter from HMS Gannet, a lifeboat, coastguards and two dive vessels carried out searches but did not find him.
The Breda was a Dutch steamer which was sank after being attacked by a German plane in 1942.
Watch manager Graeme Watters said: "Coastguard rescue officers from Oban carried out a second shoreline search at high water to check again whether this diver made it ashore and but sadly nothing was found.
"A search in the vicinity of the wreck was also carried out by navy divers but nothing was found."
The search is expected to resume later.

 

[turnerjd]

Bummer.

I know the Breda really well (and I have the ginger beer bottle to prove it!) and it is for the majority a really nice easy wreck to dive. There can be surface currents, but they tend to twirl you round in Ardmucknish Bay, but there are rarely strong (or even moderate) currents on the wreck. It is not particularly deep (in the order of 25 to 28m), and it is very easy to get into the cargo holds, although I don't know about further penetrations.

I would like to know more about this, as this really is not a place that I would ever have thought would see a diver disappearing.

Is the diver now missing, presumed dead? or is there no other information?
Sad, sad, news.

Jon

 

[DandyDon]

At least the body was recovered and without injury to others: BBC News - Body of missing diver John Skerry recovered near SS Breda wreck

 

[bobco]

John was a member of my club and highly qualified diver, the reasons resultant in his death have yet to be fully investigated, the matter is still at inquest. It was a shock to us all, and we will miss him, both as a friend and as a fellow diver.

May he rest in peace

 

[bobco]

We laid John to rest today; more than 200 people attended his funeral, a testament to both the man and those who knew him. The full facts around his death have yet to be made public, all I can say is, even for the skilled, and careful, wreck penetration can be a dangerous undertaking.