Diver one of 16 to die using hi-tech gear

A TOP diver was one of 16 people who died in the last five years using sophisticated re-breathing equipment, an inquest heard yesterday.

Nicholas Gotto died within minutes of entering waters leading to the sunken Kowloon Bridge shipwreck in West Cork.

Rachel Gotto, pregnant at the time of the tragedy, said her husband Nicholas was considered the third most experienced diver in the country and always thoroughly checked his equipment.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane was yesterday advised by medical and technical experts they could not determine which metabolic disorder - high oxygen or excess carbon dioxide levels - was the primary cause of 42-year-old Mr Gotto’s death.

A P Valves, the British-based manufacturer of the computerised Buddy Inspiration device, was legally represented at the hearing, which will resume on March 4.

User error with the Buddy Inspiration device, it was suggested, was a possible factor in some of the other 15 deaths, which occurred in Britain, Northern Ireland, Germany and the USA.

Plymouth-based engineer David Crockford, a technical expert on re-breathing equipment, said the 30kg machine used by Mr Gotto was functioning properly after its recovery from the seabed several days after the July 1998 tragedy.

However, Mr Crockford said it was interesting to note Mr Gotto’s diving partner or others among the party-of-six did not witness an alarm-warning sound from the deceased man’s hi-tech equipment.

Mr Crockford said he assisted coroner courts in Britain and Ireland at four similar inquests, but he was aware of 16 deaths of divers using the re-breather sports model.

Mr Gotto was found lifeless at 24.4 metres with his face mask removed and his mouth open.

His diving partner, Tony O’Mahony, said Mr Gotto had difficulty calibrating the machine earlier that day, but it was working correctly before the dive. He said he was three to four metres behind and above Mr Gotto as they descended on the wreck. They exchanged OK signals twice within minutes.

But at a depth of 24.4 metres, he found Mr Gotto on his back with the re-breather out of his mouth.

Mr O’Mahony, who lost his mouthpiece trying to assist Mr Gotto, rose to the surface to raise the alarm before returning to help recover the body, which floated to the surface within minutes.

Pathologist Dr John Hogan said there was no evidence of natural causes leading to the death.