Diving death adds to grim toll

Water-safety experts are warning Northlanders of the perils of diving after two separate scuba diving incidents claimed one man's life and left another woman seriously ill with "the bends".
A man aged in his 50s or 60s died after scuba diving from a boat in Matauri Bay, 25km north-east of Kaeo, on Saturday. It was the second diving death in Northland this year.
St John Ambulance Northland operations manager Tony Devanney said the man went into cardiac arrest immediately after surfacing around 1pm on Saturday.
Medical personnel on board the boat gave the diver CPR and continued resuscitation until the Northland Electricity rescue helicopter and advanced paramedics took over. Nothing could be done to save the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
The other incident involved a "very experienced" Auckland diver. The 56-year-old woman received decompression treatment at the Devonport Naval Base after she suffered the bends while diving in "perfect" conditions.
The rescue helicopter airlifted the woman to the North Shore Hospital after winching her from a launch between Little Barrier and Mokohinau Islands around noon on Saturday.
Mr Devanney said the woman was in a serious condition, suffering "bends symptoms".
The woman had temporary paralysis in her legs and pain in her joints from the diving-related decompression illness that is caused by the formation of nitrogen bubbles in the blood stream.
General manager of Water Safety New Zealand, Matt Claridge, warned of "the perils of diving", saying the sport involved many risks factors.
``It's really important that every precaution is taken. Equipment must be serviced regularly by a certified technician, divers must use safety equipment like diving flags and should always dive with a buddy.'
Northland, being a popular holiday destination, was a hot spot for divers and this could have contributed to the rise in diving incidents in the region, he said.
Kaeo's Maru Pourewa, 45, also died while diving at the mouth of the Whangaroa Harbour on January 6. Friends of Mr Pourewa found him dead 15 minutes after he failed to resurface from a dive.
Dive! Tutukaka owner Jeroen Jongejans said generally the sport was extremely safe but that it was crucial to apply common sense.
Even experienced divers were not immune to the dangers:
"There are a number of things that can go wrong."
Mr Jongejans said that, if divers kept to their depth and time limits and dived with a buddy, it was very rare to encounter trouble.
"There is a perception that diving is dangerous, but so is driving a car. If you do it right you should be fine."
It was often when divers adopted a blas? approach that they ran into trouble, he said.