Scuba warning after backpacker’s death

The scuba diving industry in Australia needs overhauling after “serious shortcomings” emerged during the death of British gap year backpacker, a coroner has said.

Bethany Farrell, 23, of Colchester, Essex, a diving beginner, drowned in February 2015 while on a scuba trip to the Great Barrier Reef after she had become separated from her diving instructor – just six days into her gap year visit. David O’connell, a Queensland coroner, said she had not been given adequate training or appropriate supervision and criticised “serious shortcomings”. He called for overhaul on how first-time scuba divers are trained in Australia.