South Korean ferry sinking incident -- who are those divers?

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Npallasi

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Location
Singapore
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I'm following the news on the South Korean ferry which sunk. About 300 people are still unaccounted for. According to the news there are divers searching. South Korean Ferry: Hope Diminishes for About 300 Missing - TIME

My question is: Who are these divers? Where are they from? What training have they received?

Could there be any volunteer divers among them? Has anyone here participated in similar rescue operations?

I wonder what it takes to be a rescue diver (not like "PADI Rescue Diver" but a real rescue diver), and whether perhaps one day I might be able to meet those requirements.
 
The term would be Public Safety Diver. You would be employed or part of volunteer division with Law Enforcement, Fire, Coast Guard, or Navy.
Not sure specifically what the training requirements entail.

In some cases, goverment might turn to experience civilian cave/wreck divers to volunteer their services. I think such was the case with the Costa Concordia wreck.
 
There are civilian divers out there with government divers -- 600 strong, according to this report.

Divers see bodies in sunken ferry, can't reach them - CNN.com Video

Kudos to all of them. It is easy to applaud divers who rescue survivors. But now they have a tougher, less rewarding job -- to bring the bodies back to their families. Can't imagine what it's like.
 
Video shows them with full face masks, cutting tools, and other commercial type of gear. Very special training.
 
Lots of stories about civilian divers out there too, Steve.
 
The Haenyo for example - Public Safety Divers are not a thing I have ever heard of outside of scubaboard. I know there is certainly no such thing in Australia, water police have their own divers as do military and search and rescue. I think if a member of the public showed up and tried to assist by diving they would be stopped from entering the water for legal reasons.
 
100 metres deep, near zero visibility, up to 4 knots of current, unstable wreck, unknown obstructions and entanglement, and now a recovery mission not a rescue.

My thoughts are with those divers, they must be brave and dedicated people.

Lets just hope they do not add to the statistics.
 

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