A 70-year-old recreational diver died when he was struck by the rotating propeller of a UK registered dive workboat.
Paul Smith was a qualified recreational diver and an Open Water instructor and had completed more than 1,000 dives over a 30-year period when the accident happened.
The accident took place on the morning of 28 September 2023, when the diver was carrying out a decompression stop.
He had been diving from a second dive workboat, Jean Elaine, and had been exploring the wreck of the German battleship SMS Markgraf in Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, Scotland.
Popular dive sites
Karin and Jean Elaine1 were two of six similar motor vessels based at Stromness, Scotland providing support for groups of recreational divers who chartered the vessels for diving trips on the scuttled World War 1 battle ships in Scapa Flow.
The wreck of Seiner Majestät Schiff (SMS)2 Markgraf, at a depth of 45m, is one of seven battleships that remain in Scapa Flow and over the years, the wrecks have become popular sites for recreational divers.
Both the dive boats were being chartered by groups of divers.
The diver and his buddy had released a delayed surface marker buoy while submerged to alert support craft of their presence, the line of which was attached to the casualty’s buoyancy control device.
Failed to resurface
Although the delayed surface marker buoy was visible to the second dive boat waiting on the other side of the wreck, it was not seen by Karin’s crew, and the vessel motored over its position.
One of the two divers subsequently failed to resurface.
Search and rescue efforts were unsuccessful in trying to locate the diver, and his body was located on the seabed during a specialist search three weeks later.
The diver’s body showed signs of severe head injuries.
An investigation by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has found that Karin’s skipper was not maintaining a sufficient lookout despite manoeuvring in an area with multiple submerged divers.
Insufficient controls
The dive boat was built as a fishing vessel before being modified to operate as a workboat. Modifications introduced impacted the view from the wheelhouse and the divers surface marker was not seen.
The investigation also found that the risk to divers was increased by the simultaneous operation of two dive boats on the same wreck and that existing harbour authority controls were insufficient to provide a robust safety barrier.
The MAIB report also found that control of the dive area was ineffective, placing divers at risk due to multiple vessels operating over a single wreck site.
Karin was propelled by a single, keel-cooled diesel engine connected to a reduction gearbox that drove a four-blade, unguarded, fixed pitch propeller.
