17 divers feared dead . . . Richmond club devastated by hurricane in Belize

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Mr.Bubbles

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Seventeen members of the Richmond Dive Club were believed killed in Belize late Monday when 140-mph winds and 18-foot seas from Hurricane Iris capsized their boat while it sought shelter from the storm.
Glenn Prillaman, the club's president and a Bon Air resident, was among the 15 divers confirmed dead, authorities and club officials said yesterday. Two others were missing and presumed dead.
Thirty members of the dive club were on the trip, which began on Oct. 6.
Thirteen members were confirmed to have survived. Three were identified as David DeBarger, Richard Patterson and Mary Lou Hayden. Patterson and Hayden were scheduled to fly into Norfolk last night.
DeBarger, creative services director at WCVE/WCVW, called his son in California yesterday morning to let him know he was OK.
In addition to the Richmond victims, three crew members assisting the dive were believed dead.
Eleven bodies were recovered by yesterday afternoon as search-and-rescue operations continued. Because of communication difficulties and poor weather, club officials were still trying to find out what precisely happened.
The two boats that were part of the trip, MV Wave Dancer and Belize Aggressor, moved from the coast of Belize inland to safety, said Tom Conlin, executive vice president of Peter Hughes Div ing Inc. The Miami-based operation, which owns the Wave Dancer and lost three crew members, was coordinating the trip with the Richmond club.
"They were in a safe place to be," Conlin said. "It was a known hurricane haven, and they were around other boats."
The Wave Dancer was tied to a dock in a protected cove along with other dive and commercial boats near Monkey Bay, close to where the storm came ashore about 80 miles southwest of Belize City.
There were no hotels open by the time the storm hit. "Belize City was evacuated, so they had to stay on board the boat," said Patricia Rose, a spokeswoman for Peter Hughes Diving.
But Henry Baizar, chief of the Belize National Fire Department, said the divers were encouraged to go into a building. "They thought their boat was big enough to weather the storm," he said.
Baizar said he had five firefighters working yesterday with military and local divers. "We will continue to search until we find everyone."
Conlin and other officials said pounding winds and surging seas apparently lifted the 120-foot Wave Dancer and smashed it in two against the dock. The boat capsized in about 12 feet of water. Twenty dive club members and eight crew members were aboard.
The Aggressor suffered little damage, Conlin said, and 12 people on board were unharmed.
Conlin said the last contact between his operation in Miami and the Wave Dancer was about 11 p.m. Monday during the storm.
Belize police Detective David Williams told The Associated Press the Wave Dancer had been colliding with the Aggressor during the night, and that a tugboat, torn loose by the storm, blew into the Wave Dancer, somehow capsizing it.
Jenny Chappell, membership coordinator for the Richmond Dive Club, got word around 2 a.m. yesterday that the boat had capsized. She began calling family members of people on the trip.
"We're trying just to let them know and offering them our prayers," she said.
Prillaman, who worked as a Realtor for Best Realty, helped found the dive club several years ago after rediscovering his interest in the sport, said Bruce Johnson, owner of Best Realty and a member of the diving club. Prillaman also was an avid model railroader and an occasional writer to The Times-Dispatch's editorial page.
"He was the kind of guy that when he got involved with something, he got involved with both feet," Johnson said. "He was not the kind of guy you didn't notice."
Prillaman grew up in the West End and is survived by a longtime girlfriend, Margo Minter, Johnson said.
In an article published Sept. 30 in The Times-Dispatch, Prillaman talked about the club's enthusiasm heading to Belize for the trip, which began Oct. 6.
"Everybody wants to go," he said. "We've been planning this trip for a year. Unfortunately, we've been at the mercy of the airlines."
The club was scheduled to have its annual meeting and election of officers at last night's monthly gathering at La Siesta Mexican Restaurant, but the election was postponed because so many club members were on the Belize trip. Instead, the meeting became an opportunity for the some 80 people who attended to gather and mourn.
Jim McNeal, owner of The Dive Shop in Richmond, said his phone was ringing off the hook when he arrived at work about 9 a.m. yesterday. He spent the morning relaying information to friends and relatives of people on the trip.
McNeal said he has known some of the people on the trip for more than 20 years. Based on accounts he received, McNeal said the group was acting responsibly to seek protection from the storm.
"They were doing everything they should do," he said.
McNeal said that part of the Caribbean is difficult to reach but excellent for sport-diving and underwater photography, with crystal-clear water, a lot of coral and plenty of aquatic life.
"Other clubs have had sinks without injuries," he said. "This one capsized with people on board, and that's infinitely more dangerous. This is an extremely, extremely rare thing, which makes it that much more of a tragedy."
The trip was geared for intermediate and advanced divers who would live aboard their boat during the trip. Participants paid $1,870 to $2,150, including round-trip airfare from Richmond to Belize City, and were promised five dives each day/night in the warm, clear water of places such as Blue Hole and Half Moon Caye Wall. Divers were told to expect green turtles, spotted eagle rays, octopuses, tarpons and sharks.
So many club members were eager to go that a second boat was chartered. The trip "is the perfect way to do all the diving, eating and resting you want," a page on the club's Web site said.
Yesterday, the site was updated to say, "We need the help of all of you to support these families during their time of need."
Adam Stubbs, a member of the dive club and an afternoon disc jockey on Lite 98 FM, considered going on the Belize trip when an opening became available recently.
"I wasn't able to take'em up" on the offer, he said. "Thank God, I didn't." (Richmond Times Dispatch)

And to add all seventeen were killed. For more info you can go to. http://www.richmonddiveclub.com/index.htm





 
The reports of this tragedy were reported several days ago. One of those lost was in-law family to a good friend of mine.

So Sad....
 

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