Tourist dead, 7 arrested - India

[DandyDon]

Seven arrested in Andaman after tourist's death

The Andaman and Nicobar Police has arrested seven people following death of a tourist at the diving site in North Bay recently. On February 13, a 26-year old tourist died at the diving site in NorthBay beach following which police had registered a case of negligence. After investigation the Andaman and Nicobar Police has arrested seven people from a diving company Dive Mantra. They are Dive Instructor Geo Mathew, Director Ranju Ravindran, Director Dinesh Biswas, Rescue Diver B Ganeshwar Rao, technician Rahul Roop, Shekhar Mistry and Dive instructor Mrityunjay Sisaudia. Meanwhile, A&N Police has strictly directed all scuba and snorkelling operators and tourist boat operators to take all safety measures to avoid any untoward incident. On February 13, a 26 year old boy from Nagpur, Maharashtra, died in North Bay after completing Scuba Diving at North Bay beach. As per reports, the boy named Vinit Sohan Papre went with his father Ashok Chand Das Papre, mother and sister to North Bay for Scuba Divingunder the supervision of Dive Mantra,a private diving agency.

 

[NYCNaiad]

Wow. Shocking. I tried to find out more, but I don't seem to see anything coming up. I wonder what prompted the arrests.

 

[t-mac]

That's quite a reaction. Perhaps it has to do with liability under local laws going all the way up the chain? It's hard to believe that all of these people were so directly involved in whatever happened to be held responsible under any legal framework I'm familiar with. While it was the shop personnel in this case, it is a reminder that liability under local laws may not follow our notions. I recall the case of Stephen Martin from a couple of years ago where Maltese officials were trying to hold him liable under some extraordinary duty as a buddy when two people he was diving with died.

I tried finding stuff on the Mantra shop and didn't get much. From Facebook and other sources of reviews describing experiences (mostly very positive), it looks like they probably do a lot of DSD -- one description of a 20 minute briefing before you go diving and many others are pretty clearly DSD or something like it. Hopefully more information will come out. In any event, very tragic.

 

[Pinecube]

Found this, not much info though:
26 year old tourist dies after Scuba Diving at North Bay - Andaman Sheekha

Port Blair, Feb 13: A 26 year old boy from Nagpur, Maharashtra died this afternoon at North Bay after completing Scuba Diving at North Bay beach.

As per reports, the boy namely Vinit Sohan Papre went with his father Ashok Chand Das Papre, mother and Sister to North Bay for Scuba Diving under the supervision of a private diving agency, Dive Mantra. Sources said that after the boy came out from the sea after Scuba Diving, he died.

It is learnt that the family members of the Boy has registered a complaint at the Bambooflat Police Station alleging negligence from the side of the Dive Mantra and the divers.

It is also learnt that the Bambooflat Police Station has registered an FIR against Dive Mantra and the Divers.

 

[NYCNaiad]

Found this, not much info though:
26 year old tourist dies after Scuba Diving at North Bay - Andaman Sheekha

Thanks for finding this. The comments are pretty diametrically opposed.

 

[t-mac]

This report says he'd finished his dive and removed all gear except his wetsuit back on shore before disappearing. Even more bizarre case of negligence if it happened this way.

26 Year Old Tourist Dies After Drowning Near North Bay

 

[mritunjai]

Hi, I am a part owner of Dive Mantra. The boy was 29 yr old Vineet A Sonpipare, a tourist from mainland India. He did a try dive with us that day, shore entry. It was not a diving accident, but drowning after he had returned from the dive. We are implicated since he was wearing our wetsuit. He was found at about 2 meter depth near shore. Autopsy did not reveal any injury or medical condition. There are 8 people accused of 'negligence with common intent', 6 of us (shop owners) and 2 staff. Out of 6 of us, only one was present there that day on the beach. I was in fact on another island getting one of our boats fixed up, which had taken a hit in a recent cyclone, when I was arrested. The case is still under investigation.

 

[elgoog]

There are so many thoughts, about this accident and everything around it, going through my mind right now that I'm having a hard time deciding what to put here. All of them have to do with the way things are in India and their implications to this accident. I've been debating whether to post anything at all here because I think it's extremely hard to explain a lot of those things to folks who haven't spent significant time there. The last thing I want to do is misrepresent the country of my birth and upbringing and skew peoples' opinions due to that.

I still don't know if I will but, in the mean time, if I were in @mritunjai 's position, I would not post any more on this thread. I understand the desire to clear your name and shop but please speak to a lawyer (if you have hired one) before saying anything else on a public forum.

 

[diver0008]

I think it's extremely hard to explain a lot of those things to folks who haven't spent significant time there.

Please try. For those of us not fortunate enough to have travelled there, the knowledge would be very much appreciated.

 

[t-mac]

Yes, any insight would help greatly. Perhaps this is simply a matter of cultural issues that don't readily translate, but I'm particularly interested in the legal issues that may be at play. I assume they are based on the British common law in the same manners as here in the US. From that perspective, the notion that anyone at the shop would be liable for negligence based on these facts is frankly astounding. If in fact this is a proper case I would like to understand why in order to know what I might be held liable for. I think others would also be interested from that perspective.