johnlee2016

I hold an advanced open water diving certification from PADI; I have been diving for 19 years with more than 700 dives all over the world.

I have read some of the comments and disagree with many of them. Of course, it's sad what happened, but it's not necessarily the dive master's fault. All scuba divers are supposed to adhere to the buddy system - that system means if your buddy goes up, you also go up; you stay near your buddy at all times. This means the deceased diver may be at fault - maybe the dive master took care of the other diver (who is the deceased's buddy under the buddy rules) and motioned for the deceased to join, and maybe the deceased decided not to join; underwater, the dive master cannot physically force someone; he is already taking care of one person with a problem; the other person should follow them - this is the buddy system. If the deceased saw the dive master take his/her buddy and they motioned to the deceased to follow and the deceased did not, then it is the deceased person's fault.

As a diver, you are responsible for your own safety and you are supposed to follow your buddy.

All those rules go out the window when it concerns non-certified divers, like was the case here. These are always the instructor's responsibility.

How do you know the deceased was not certified?

I hold an advanced open water diving certification from PADI; I have been diving for 19 years with more than 700 dives all over the world.

I have read some of the comments and disagree with many of them. Of course, it's sad what happened, but it's not necessarily the dive master's fault. All scuba divers are supposed to adhere to the buddy system - that system means if your buddy goes up, you also go up; you stay near your buddy at all times. This means the deceased diver may be at fault - maybe the dive master took care of the other diver (who is the deceased's buddy under the buddy rules) and motioned for the deceased to join, and maybe the deceased decided not to join; underwater, the dive master cannot physically force someone; he is already taking care of one person with a problem; the other person should follow them - this is the buddy system. If the deceased saw the dive master take his/her buddy and they motioned to the deceased to follow and the deceased did not, then it is the deceased person's fault.

As a diver, you are responsible for your own safety and you are supposed to follow your buddy.