Singaporean Diver-Johor Drowning

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The Wolf

Contributor
Messages
319
Reaction score
116
Location
Brunei
# of dives
1000 - 2499
Hi

Does anyone have any information or accounts on the passing of a diver whom I know personally in Johor a few days ago? There has been no information in the newspapers or any information made available or awarness about the incident and I am trying to get more information about what happened.
 
hi..

only managed to get some info from asiaone.com.sg...

"SMU professor dies during dive trip off MersingProfessor Winston Koh, who taught economics, was believed to be on his first such trip to Pulau Dayang. The body of a Singapore Management University (SMU) professor who died during a scuba diving trip in Malaysia was recovered on Thursday. Professor Winston Koh, who taught economics, was believed to be on his first such trip to Pulau Dayang, off Mersing, a popular dive spot. Superintendent P. Raveendran, the head of the Malaysian police's Public Order and Traffic Department in Johor, told The Straits Times yesterday they received a report that he was missing at sea on Sunday. Three other friends the Singaporean was with on the trip made the report. "A search and rescue operation was conducted by multiple agencies and his body was found about 100m from where he was reported missing," he added. Professor Koh's body was found in the water and taken to Mersing Hospital, where his wife identified his body. His body is expected to be transported to Singapore today."p

my deepest condolence. not sure what really happened but will try to update later on. Dayang Island is one of my regular dive spots, just went there early March for the season opening
 
Thanks for posting this mdanwar. Am curious to know what the story is behind this sad incident.
 
Based on reports as told to the family by people on board a small resort dive boat from Dayang, there were a group of four OW students (including the victim, Winston Koh) and their instructor as well as a group of recreational divers with their guide. The students were doing their 4th OW dive and first dive Sunday morning. They were diving Rayner's Rock off Dayang. Rayners is known for its huge boulders, its sloping plunge from the corner of the island down to about 30m and, unfortunately, exposed conditions.

By local norms, the water was still a bit rough at the beginning of the season (there is a video on Facebook showing the divers entering the water). Estimates of visibility of only 7m or less is also poor by Rayner's standards but more like what is normal at the beginning of the season. I have heard from others at the site that morning that there was also a fairly decent current which, unfortunately, is fairly common for the site most times of the day / season. According to video, the instructor said (probably half jokingly) "hold on for your dear life" and "it will be better underwater". According to newspapers reports, the wife was told that the instructor told the students to all descend to 7 meters and he'd meet them there. When he got there (after an unspecified time), the victim was missing. The instructor looked briefly then signalled for everyone else to go up with him. They got back on the boat, searched briefly, took the students back to the resort a few minutes away. then resumed the search. The victim's BCD and mask were recovered that day but the body was not found for several more days. It was reported found at only about 100m away from the site.

Unfortunately, we will likely never know why the victim drowned, why his gear was off, why he got separated, etc. With quite a lot of experience teaching in the area though, I must say that the divesite was a poor choice for an open water course though. If sea conditions were ideal - which they were not that day and rarely are - I still would not teach an OW student there. There are too many other nearby more appropriate sites. Trying to keep track of four students at Rayners is just too risky, IMHO. Add surface chop, the small dive boat, low visibility, underwater current and some seemingly nervous looking students and it is even worse. That doesn't explain what happened to the victim but being at a better divesite would most likely have helped the instructor deal with the problem if it did happen elsewhere like Telok Jawa or in the channel just around the corner. Sad.
 
Thanks for that Zippy.

So many questions and suggestions to put to the diving company and instructor and the rational of going out to a place like that when it was clear the divers were unprepared for such conditions given how raw they were.

The one big problem I have with this incident is that it will be swept under the carpet and the dive instructor in question does not need to justify or is held accountable by whomever he "represents" be it PADI or NAUI or SSI, etc.

And he is probably going to do the same routine all over again with a new batch of divers and this really bothers me. This was an incident that did not need to happen, as you have also agreed.

BCD/MASK off...from experince in handling drowning divers, this appears to be the case...he got into trouble either with the currents and the inability to control or to swim to the meeting point and was possibly getting swept away from the group and panicked...this is me speculating of course but I have seen this before.

This incident and death didn't need to happen.

Am interested in knowing who the instructor is and his experince in handling divers and the rational in taking new divers out to difficult conditions. At the end of the day, someone has to be responsible for this decision making process.
 
I understand from local reports that the instructor was fairly new (about 1 year). I am quite certain that if does continue teaching, he will have learned an extremely expensive lesson. NAUI will certainly investigate it as I know DAN and SUF are as well. The guy that owns the shop has a very good reputation and something like 30 years of experience and I am betting that if he allows the instructor to teach for him again, there will be a lot of direct supervision by the owner.

Note though that I have no idea what caused the drowning. I do think that if the instructor had done everything by the book and made better decisions, it probably would have helped to prevent any panic (if that was the case) or allow him to deal with it better if the diver did panic. That's no guaranty though. Diving can still be a dangerous sport and we will likely never know what exactly happened.
 
I understand from local reports that the instructor was fairly new (about 1 year). I am quite certain that if does continue teaching, he will have learned an extremely expensive lesson. NAUI will certainly investigate it as I know DAN and SUF are as well. The guy that owns the shop has a very good reputation and something like 30 years of experience and I am betting that if he allows the instructor to teach for him again, there will be a lot of direct supervision by the owner.

Note though that I have no idea what caused the drowning. I do think that if the instructor had done everything by the book and made better decisions, it probably would have helped to prevent any panic (if that was the case) or allow him to deal with it better if the diver did panic. That's no guaranty though. Diving can still be a dangerous sport and we will likely never know what exactly happened.

Thanks for clarifying Zippsy.

Am curious to know what this instructor's background is prior to becoming and instructor and how old he is. Anyways, will dig around for information.
 
i find it strange that singaporeans make up about 15% of the divers in tioman and 99% of the dive accidents!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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