Could This Happen in America?

A court in Taiwan has ordered a couple, Mr. Lin and his Japanese wife, Ms. Wang, and their diving company, to pay the equivalent of $625,925 to the family of a Japanese man who died during a diving course they were conducting. They also received custodial sentences.

On 15 August 2019, the victim, a Mr. Kujirai, was participating in a three-day PADI course in Houpihu with Lidao Dive Co. when he went missing. The water was choppy when those trainees undertaking the course were told to descend to 30 feet.

Mr. Kujirai attempted to dive yet resurfaced 20 times, clearly having trouble with either buoyancy or equalization. Then he went missing. Rescuers found him dead an hour later, 100 feet from shore.

In the court ruling, it was said that Lin and Wang failed to pay adequate attention to Kujirai and did not stay within arm's reach of him in the water. They did not monitor his physical condition despite the difficulty he demonstrated.

The couple was charged with negligent homicide, and last June the couple was sentenced to eight months and six months in prison. Their diving shop has closed.

Taking newcomers into the hostile environment underwater is a serious undertaking that is sadly not fully appreciated by some diving instructors in other territories.

For example, in the U.S., there was the Gull Dive Center (Missoula) diving instructor Debbie Snow, whose negligence, it was alleged, was likely responsible for the death of teenage trainee Linnea Mills in November 2020. Authorities have brought no charges against her. Would it not better focus the minds of diving instructors on safety if they were subject to the long arm of the law? https://tinyurl.com/bdeupfwy