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View Full Version : Oz Divers refuse to pay for rescue



Sarah
06-02-2008, 09:45 PM
June 2008

THE couple who miraculously survived 19 hours in north Queensland waters said they are heartbroken over what they call "preposterous" and "mortifying" talk they staged the incident.

British dive instructor Richard Neely, 38, and American partner Allyson Dalton, yesterday told The Daily Telegraph they were adamant the Great Barrier Reef dive operator was to blame for what could have been a deadly mishap.

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They also denied taking a water bottle on the dive, rejected claims they failed to follow safety instructions or broke any rules when they were separated from their diving group at Paradise Lagoon, off Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays region off north Queensland on Friday.

Ms Dalton even suggested OzSail, the owner of the Pacific Star dive charter, should pay any part of their costly rescue bill not covered by their diving insurance.

"Our insurance covers the rescue but we wouldn't have been in that situation had the dive company followed standard operating procedures and therefore it's not our fault that there was all of this effort made to rescue us - it was the dive boat operators," she said.

Speaking in New York after an interview with NBC's Today Show, the couple also told The Daily Telegraph they wanted to again thank their Australian rescuers and if they could, they would take them out for a beer.

The couple was rescued against the odds early on Saturday after spending Friday night out in choppy shark-infested waters.

But an escalating bitter war of words has erupted between the divers and OzSail.

The company accused the pair of failing to follow "clear instructions" and questioned their story and at least one passenger contradicted their claims that they saw no activity on the boat while they were waiting to be rescued.

Ms Dalton, 40, said the couple were victims and the way some people had attacked them was "heartbreaking".

"We thought we were going to die," she said.

"We came that close that we really were on the verge of giving up. Why would we put ourselves in that position in any intentional way?"

She said it made "absolutely zero sense" and she could see no logical reason why the couple would want to stage their disappearance.

Mr Neely said they had been paid less than $10,000 for their interview with the Sunday Mirror in London. The couple also appeared on the Nine Network in Australia.

"We have approached nobody. We have been approached," he said.

The couple is also doing interviews with NBC's high rating Dateline program.

It has been rumoured the couple could net about $US250,000 ($261,000) from all of their media deals. Source: DailyTelegraph

shinek
06-03-2008, 04:24 PM
As they say, there are 3 sides to every story, one of which is the truth. Here are a few other snippets of info for your perusal. I doubt anyone with their knowledge of diving and the inherent dangers of the open ocean would deliberately put themselves out there for 19 hours, sounds far too risky, but who knows? However, it is possible that they simply screwed up and were embarrassed to admit it and so pointed the finger elsewhere. Having said that, they were, according to at least one other diver on board, wearing 7mm suits on top of 2mm skins, hardly necessary for a tropical diver, but could just be their preference. :confused: Also, they didn't use their safety sausages until after dark, according to one statement they made to authorities. Why you wouldn't have those things inflated and be waving them like lunatics, if you thought the boat crew hadn't seen you, I don't know. :confused: I'm sure the whole story will come out in time, although they already have a publicity agent, so there will be a spin on it. ;)

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23801043-2,00.html?from=public_rss
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23769873-952,00.html
http://www.cdnn.info/news/safety/s080527b.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/28/2258603.htm

hbh2oguard
06-03-2008, 05:49 PM
time will only tell there are just toooooo many weird twists with everyone's stories involved.

shinek
03-23-2009, 07:47 PM
Just wanted to give an update to the story. We'll see if the operator or instructor actually face any charges.

From 9 News in Australia:

"A couple accused of staging a disappearance from a dive boat on the Great Barrier Reef are relieved their names look set to be cleared by an investigation into the incident, their agent says.

British scuba diving instructor Richard Neely, 38, and his American girlfriend Allyson Dalton, 40, were lost at sea after being swept 15km from their dive boat by a strong current during an expedition off the north Queensland coast in May this year.

They were rescued after being adrift for about 19 hours and their ordeal made headlines both across Australia and overseas.

The story also sparked a bidding war between media organisations.

The couple reportedly pocketed up to $250,000 for the sale of their story, prompting some to question whether the disappearance was staged.

However, a yet to be released report by the Queensland government's office of workplace health and safety apparently attributes the incident to "operator error" and is set to recommend charges be laid against the dive company, OzSail.

A government spokeswoman declined to comment on the content of the report, revealed in The Courier-Mail newspaper, but said the investigation was not yet complete.

However, celebrity agent Max Markson, who represented the couple following their rescue, said they had been vindicated.

He said he has spoken to the couple about the story and they were pleased their names and reputations had been publicly cleared.

"They are relieved - they've known all along they were telling the truth and it's a relief for them," Mr Markson told AAP.

"I knew they were telling the truth the whole way along - you only had to spend half an hour in their company."

Mr Markson said the couple could not understand the way they were treated by sections of the Australian media, adding that media organisations overseas took the story at face value.

"They were shocked, they were horrified, they just couldn't understand why there was this enormous backlash against them - they were just grateful to be alive and I'm sure some people wished they were dead," he said.

Ross Peters, from dive boat operator OzSail, said he would not comment until he had seen a copy of the final report."

The Publisher
03-23-2009, 10:24 PM
If their publicity agent says they have been exonerated, it must be true. :p