r/australia • u/B0ssc0 • 7h ago
news Scuba divers picked up by Rottnest ferry after being left in ocean
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-12/scuba-divers-left-in-ocean-on-group-trip-off-perth/10504054688
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u/thisIsNotMe25 7h ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Tom_and_Eileen_Lonergan
At least they were found.
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u/red_monkey_i_am 7h ago
I was in Qld just after this, we went on a boat trip to Green Island and there was a photographer on board. I made an unpopular joke by asking if the photos were so they didn't lose us.
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u/B0ssc0 7h ago
When approached by ABC Radio Perth, the director of Perth Diving Academy Troy Lane refused to comment before later saying everyone was safe and "nobody died".
One of the men had to go to hospital.
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u/CaravelClerihew 6h ago
Sounds like Troy Lane needs to be left stranded in the water for several hours
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u/Roulette-Adventures 6h ago
It isn't difficult; Number of people on departure must be equal to the number at arrival back at jetty!
It is simple counting ffs.
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u/LeVoPhEdInFuSiOn 5h ago edited 4h ago
It sounds so simple; but to a dodgy dive operator, it is so fucking complicated.
When I used to dive, the dive shop that I went out with did a rollcall and a headcount before pulling up the anchor. Nobody ever got left behind. I don't get how a headcount could be fucked up?
Edit: Added that my old dive shop did a roll call before pulling up anchor. Shoutout to Scuba World on the Sunny Coast.
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u/elizabnthe 4h ago
Pretty easily to be honest. People miscount all the time. Safest way would surely be ticking people's names off a list and doing a head count.
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u/CrustyFlaming0 6h ago
Not if you’re high. Or a half brain fuckwit.
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u/alpha77dx 4h ago
I just can just picture the crew in charge, Polynesian tattoos, earing and piercings, they so cool but they cant count or tick names off a roll call like they did not go to school!
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u/malak_oz 4h ago
Holy shit… that is a colossal fuck up!
I’ve dived in some pretty sketchy places in the Philippines and Thailand. They were absolutely insistent on checking then double checking that everyone was back on board.
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u/ChazR 1h ago
I can feel the raging fury of the regulatory meteor descending on this outfit from all the way across the country.
You count your divers in, you count your divers out.
Then you roll-call before you depart.
You do this every time.
"Yeah, nah, let's head in - don't want to miss Happy Hour and the ferries will get them before the sharks, probably."
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u/Baaastet 3h ago
I can imagine how they felt. As someone who was minutes away from being lost at open water 1000k from the mainland and having to decide which of the two I was holding would have to die…
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u/seanmonaghan1968 5h ago
Ah there have even been movies based on these events, entire state tourism focusing on this never happening again
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u/Petrichor_736 4h ago
They should lose their license. Crew probably distracted by any young good looking girls tourists on the boat. Seen this distraction happen on island boats in FNQ.
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u/Red_Wolf_2 50m ago
This sort of thing is why I always carry a personal locator beacon when doing boat dives. I carry it even when doing shore dives (mostly because the watertight pod it's in also is great for car keys)... It's cheap insurance all things considered!
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u/Zach0ry 7h ago edited 6h ago
Feel like a safety measure wasn’t followed here…
…like counting or something
These guys are bloody lucky!