German diver dies in Gozo

Or maybe people should quit diving/swimming in Winter?

DO any of the people commenting below actually know the cause of death? It could be something completely unrelated to diving. THe fact that she was diving prior to her death could be coincidental. Until the inquiry is complete it is prudent to refrain from passing judgement.

Malta is one of the safest diving destinations in the world. More than 60,000 diving tourists come to Malta every year. During summer time there are thousands of dives that happen safely every day. This is thanks to the strict regulations and the professional attitude of the dive schools and instructors. Unfortunately in any sport, accidents do happen.

To all of you bloggers who know NOTHING about this sport, please refrain from making inaccurate assumptions. Remember that ASSUME means that it makes an ASS of U and ME !!
Wait until the investigations are done before coming to any conclusions.

Perhaps it would be prudent to wait for the outcome of the autopsy before commenting on safety standards. Nevertheless mgarr ix-xini is one of the few diveable sites in gozo in a strong northwesterly and is also a shallow dive. A common cause of death in beginners at these depths is barotrauma: if one panics and ascends from a depth of only 10 metres to sea level without exhaling, the volume of air in the lungs doubles, causing rupture and potentially death. This has nothing to do with decompression sickness or bends

@ D. Bonello, M. Saliba
Further to Umberto d'Amico's post, if 50,000 divers a year come to Malta for a week to 10 days and fit in say 20 dives you have 1 million foreign dives a year.
In comparison, how many local dives could there be - maybe 1/10th that figure at the very most. Hence the difference in the casualty rate.

@ Chris Poulton - Good observations.

But - We do not know if the instructor (assuming there was an instructor if it was a beginner dive) was maltese.

I did have a go at diving, but decided to stick to other sport instead. Water is not my habitat.

(Errata Corrige - in the example I had given earlier regarding the motoring fatality - there were a number of problems during the fateful drive, but the fatality occured when the driver tried to control the vehicle and pressed the wrong pedal).

@ Chris Poulton

"Suggest you update your chart and swing your compass before going sailing again. Mgarr Ix-Xini is actually on the South WEST coast of Gozo, not South East"

Suggest that you take a look at this map: http://www.maltavista.net/bigmap/big/3-3.jpg

West is to the left of the screen while East is to the right, towards Malta

@ W Vella Zarb
Suggest you update your chart and swing your compass before going sailing again. Mgarr Ix-Xini is actually on the South WEST coast of Gozo, not South East. The forecast for today has been Force 4-5 for the past few days.
@ D. Bonello, M. Saliba
Read U d'Amico's post carefully - it is totally true. The vast majority of diving accidents here involve foreigners. Could this point to training and safety being a lot more serious in Malta than elsewhere?
@ all others, have you ever done any scuba diving? If you know nothing on the subject, please refrain from commenting.

My condolences to this lady's family
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I hate to bring up this subject, but since others feel it should be discussed-then why not. Hopefully we will learn something and avoid such future accidents.

@JFarrugia - I understand you point, however, one cannot simply discount such a fatal acccident by referring to the safety levels of diving in Malta being good.

I know very well (after some 20 years marshalling and participating in the organisation of motorspost events) that accidents don't just happen. Many times, there are a number of cicumsances that contribute to an accident.

Following a similar tragic death last summer, I did my research on diving (by speaking with and interviewing experienced diving instructors, not on the internet!!). There are a number of rules that should be followed with beginner dives and that may easily be discarded - either due to lack of personnel or taking one's true abiility for granted.

I remember a foreign racing-driver who lost his life whilst driving a vintage racing car because it had the 'old' pedal layout-brakes on the right and accelerator in the middle.

I think last summer's accident should have been enough for people to be more careful.

Ten thousands of divers visit the islands. It is not unthinkeble that every now and then an accident occures. To my opinion the more experienced divers know their responsibility and safety procedures. And the diving schools in Malta have these procedures as well for beginners. Malta is one of the safest countries in the world to dive. Current and wind have no influence on this accident. Nevertheless every diver who dies is too much.

@D.Bonello

Since you follow up the matter so closely, you should know that most of the death and accident cases in scuba diving involve tourists.

From experience, I can tell you that even if you are the best diver anywhere in the world, as soon as you leave your home waters, you are back to a beginner.

Above of that, diving local waters without appropriate knowledge of current, winds and land formation, is simply too dangerous.

Mgarr Ix-Xini is very difficult for accidents to happen, unless unfortunate things happen like equipment failure or medical conditions. Mgarr ix-Xini max depth just outside the valley is merely 14mtrs, and most of the time tourists stay within that limit, since the dive is amazing just inside the valley.

@D.Bonello, pls refrain from commenting on something which you obviously have no idea about.
Diving in Malta is one of the most safest and strickly regulated in the world, the courses given are proffesional and the standards very high. Accidents do happen and people do try things that are out of there depth, excuse the pun.
RIP to this lady.

@ Matthew Farrugia

"It is all about personal judgement, foreign divers should be more cautious when diving in unknown waters especially when wind conditions are strong...."

Absolutely correct. However, a quick glance at my chart of the area shows that Mgarr ix-Xini is towards the South East part of Gozo and would therefore be sheltered ...

Do you know how many divers dive everyday around malta? Hundreds.

My condolences to the diver's family.

@ D.Bonello....

A quick look at todays weather forecast shows that today is Rather strong West Northwest (force 5), locally rather strong to strong (force 5 to 6) at first, soon backing moderate to rather strong West to Southwest (force 4 to 5) and becoming South to Southwest later in the evening.... (QUOTED from http://www.maltairport.com/weather/)

It is all about personal judgement, foreign divers should be more cautious when diving in unknown waters especially when wind conditions are strong....

It seems to me that to many diving accidents happen in Malta. The maltese goverment should creat a commision and investigate these deaths. In addtion, find out if the dive shops on the island and adhering to saftey procedures.