A 40-YEAR-OLD male Chinese tourist drowned at the Laulau Bay Dive site on Friday, May 17, according to the Department of Public Safety.
Assistant Chief of Police Simon Manacop, the DPS acting public information officer, said based on a preliminary investigation, the victim arrived at the dive site at about 4:30 p.m. along with a female companion and two dive operators, who were hired by the victim and his female companion.
“The dive instructor had noted nothing unusual with the victim during their initial dive,” Manacop said. “They had all descended to a depth of 12 meters and slowly made their way back to shallow water. As they all approached the reef line, the victim was observed ascending to the surface and descending back to the ocean floor, repeatedly. The instructor and the victim [were] along the reef line, described as chest high in water level. But due to the waves, they both continued to use their regulators,” Manacop said.
“[The] victim was later observed panicking as he repeatedly waved his arms. The victim’s air gauge read 0 psi and was immediately offered a secondary regulator, which he refused and continued to panic. The victim was then escorted back to shore where the instructor noticed that the victim was unconscious and immediately yelled for help. Shortly after, CPR was conducted until [the] medics arrived,” he added.
The victim was transported to the Commonwealth Health Center where he was pronounced dead at 7:29 p.m. due to drowning, DPS said.
The incident remains under investigation, DPS added. If anyone has information about it, they may call the DPS Marine Patrol Section at (670) 233-9120, DPS headquarters at (670) 664-9001 or the Crime Stoppers Hotline at (670) 234-7272 if they wish to remain anonymous.
