Amateur diver's death could have been prevented - coroner

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An amateur diver's death from drowning was unnecessary and could have been prevented by good diving practices, a coroner has found.

Glen Mathison Taylor, 37, an Auckland St John communications manager, drowned on November 17, 2011 while diving around Moturua Island in the Bay of Islands.

An amateur diver, Mr Taylor drowned after running out of oxygen and becoming separated from his buddy, Whangarei Coroner Brandt Shortland said in his formal findings released today.

"In my view, it was an unnecessary death and a death that could have been prevented by good diving practices."

On the day of his drowning, Mr Taylor had been diving for crayfish with a number of friends.

His diving companion Terrence Kelly told the coronial inquest into his friend's death that he was having problems with his face mask fogging up so stopped to clear it. However during that time, Mr Taylor moved over a rock and into some kelp, disappearing out of sight.

Mr Kelly said he followed in the direction had last seen Mr Taylor travelling in, but could not find him.

When he got down to 50 bar of air, Mr Kelly then turned around and swam back in the direction of their boat.

During that time, Philip and Julie Marlow, who had been on the boat, saw Mr Taylor surface between 50 and 100 metres away.

They told the inquest they saw him wave his arms in distress and pull off his mask and yell "hurry, hurry!".

They immediately moved their boat towards him, however lost sight of Mr Taylor before they could reach him.

A call for assistance then brought numerous boats to the area in a short amount of time, including a number of police members participating in a recreational fishing trip, the report stated.

Sergeant Craig Kennedy was among the group and after 30 minutes of searching found Mr Taylor lying face down in some kelp, 18 metres deep on the sea floor.

First aid was attempted, however Mr Taylor had clearly passed away, the report stated.

A Police National Dive Squad report stated that Mr Taylor was recovered with only 15 bar of air remaining in his cylinder. He had effectively depleted his air.

Basic safety procedures including dumping his weight belt and inflating his buoyancy control device may have made a difference in saving his life and the failure to do so was contradiction to safe diving practices, the report stated.

Despite that, Mr Taylor's actions were understandable given the panicked state he found himself in, Mr Shortland said.