Graduate drowns on f irst scuba dive
A BRITISH graduate drowned on her first ever scuba dive – days into a dream trip to Australia.
Bethany Farrell, 23, died after she became separated from her instructor while swimming on the Great Barrier Reef, a week after beginning her gap year.
She was found 35ft down on the seabed in Blue Pearl Bay, a beauty spot popular with divers.
Her devastated parents have demanded to know why she wasn’t properly supervised.
An investigation by the Office of Fair and Safe Work and Australian police has begun and may lead to criminal proceedings.
Statements have been taken and equipment seized.
Miss Farrell’s father Patrick, 47, said: ‘She was on a supervised activity – she should have been safe. It has just been devastating. From what we can gather, Bethany had boarded a bus to get the boat at 1pm. She was dead by 5pm.
‘We have photos of her looking like she was having fun. There are times when I have just been hoping I had gone insane and got it wrong.’
The former soldier, who lives in Colchester, Essex, last spoke to his daughter on Skype two days before her death.
Mr Farrell, who is divorced from Miss Farrell’s mother Caron, said: ‘The instructor had three students, one of them was Bethany. One of the students decided she did not want to dive but we have not got the exact reasons why, so she remained on the boat, which left the instructor, Bethany and one of her friends.
‘At some point, the diving instructor lost sight of Bethany, then realised he could not locate her, returned the other student to the surface, sought help and went back down, presumably with some other people to help.
‘They found Bethany dead 11 metres down. They were meant to be diving to a depth of 5 metres.’
Miss Farrell, who had a younger brother, Jake, 20, had been planning to work in the country for a year and posted a series of images to her account on the photosharing website Instagram in the days before her death on February 17.
The Professional Association of Diving Instructors said the instructor would have been allowed to take four students to a maximum depth of 12 metres.
But a spokesman added that discretion should be exercised, saying: ‘This is in ideal conditions with really good students.’