This is happening in Singapore..will it happen in Queensland?????

Killjoy


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AUG 18 2000

Price war behind unsafe dive courses <>



The diving industry needs to regulate itself as frenetic undercutting has
lowered the quality of instruction


By EDMUND TEE

IT HAS happened again.

Almost two weeks ago, Mr Lim Chun Keong, 22, died while doing a course that
would have prepared him to rescue others.

But no one told the National University of Singapore chemical-engineering
student that the rescue drills his instructors made him do were not in the
course syllabus.

Mr Lim, known to be a strong swimmer and an experienced diver, died while
trying to recover a diving belt laden with 12 kg of lead without the aid of
scuba gear in the murky waters off Singapore's Pulau Hantu.

The exercise was reportedly in waters about 4 m deep.

His death is now being investigated, and it is perhaps best not to speculate
about the precise causes in this case until investigators get to the bottom
of that unfortunate incident.

But what is significant is that the drowning was the third fatal diving
accident in as many years.

In June 1998, Miss Shaw Soo Ling, 29, and Mr Philip Lemette, 31, died off
Indonesia's Anambas Islands.

A year and a month later, Miss Audrey Loh, 25, died off Layang Layang.

These divers perished at almost 13-month intervals, an alarming rate for a
sport that is reputed to be safe.

Part of the reason, I believe, is the poor quality of dive instruction by
some operators.

In the past three years, the diving industry has been inundated with new
dive stores that go all out to undercut the more established outlets with
seductively low prices.

Some beginner's dive courses are offered for as little as $150 -- about a
third of the average price.

At this price, operators make losses just to grab market share. In order to
sustain these ridiculously- low prices, they rush their students through
ATTACH beginner's classes.
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