Headcase

Yep as per any agency standard only 1 of the team should/needs to fire off an SMB.

Anyway the point I'm making is that KT has a lack of safety procedures for divers operating below heavy boat traffic. The dive shops don't apply agency safety recommendations. That's what I witnessed there. I can't comment on the incident itself as I have no details.

Most dive agency advise when you can't return to the shot line and have to free ascend from depth then an SMB should released from depth to notify boat traffic there is a diver below and they are surfacing. This is particularly true when there surfacing in an area with boat traffic. There is a lot of boat traffic at the dive sites on KT.

I spent 4 months diving in KT and I never saw anyone with an SMB or deploying one. That dive safety procedure is never used on KT. I was always surprised that I never saw an accident when I was there as a result.

The dive shops don't issue them to divers as part of the hire kit, I assumed as they didn't want the expense of the kit and secondly they didn't want to extend the length of the dive course by adding another skill. They want to fire out the certs quick, instructors are paid that per student.

Don't know the details of this incident, might be an instructor led trainee doing an unplanned out of control rapid but the above procedure is ignored on the island anyway. Thats a dive shop issue.

As for divers having to use SMB's OK to a point, better still official dive sites should be well charted and buoyed off, big fines for boat incursions and dive boats to clearly fly a dive flag to indicate divers down (which should be lowered after all divers have returned to the boat), maybe a strobe light and a loud horn to warn of other boats.

Most dive agency advise when you can't return to the shot line and have to free ascend from depth then an SMB should released from depth to notify boat traffic there is a diver below and they are surfacing. This is particularly true when there surfacing in an area with boat traffic. There is a lot of boat traffic at the dive sites on KT.

I spent 4 months diving in KT and I never saw anyone with an SMB or deploying one. That dive safety procedure is never used on KT. I was always surprised that I never saw an accident when I was there as a result.

The dive shops don't issue them to divers as part of the hire kit, I assumed as they didn't want the expense of the kit and secondly they didn't want to extend the length of the dive course by adding another skill. They want to fire out the certs quick, instructors are paid that per student.

Don't know the details of this incident, might be an instructor led trainee doing an unplanned out of control rapid but the above procedure is ignored on the island anyway. Thats a dive shop issue.