Diver exploring Scots shipwreck died after going 40ft too deep

Martin Charlesworth - 

A diver exploring a sea wreck off the Scottish coast died after he descended beyond the depths for which he was qualified, an inquest heard.

Father-of-four Neil Rodgers, 40, became separated from two other more experienced divers when he got into difficulties and failed to surface.

He was only qualified to dive to 35 metres, yet the trio descended to about 47m in the Sound of Mull before they hit trouble.

It is thought all three suffered nitrogen narcosis which affects the nerve cells in a similar way to alcohol as the divers explored the wreck of the Rondo, a cargo vessel which sank in 1935.

As they became separated, Mr Rodgers' "dive buddies" Dr John Fallon and Sarah Brough, each thought he was with the other and Dr Fallon had to ascend rapidly after he lost his weighted dive belt.

Alarm engineer Mr Rodgers, from the Rotherham area, was on a trip with other members of Doncaster Sub Aqua Club when he went missing on 16 March, 2008. His body was found ten months later, about 40 yards from the wreck, lodged between two boulders.

The inquest heard Mr Rodgers had been warned not to go beyond 35m by the club's dive officer beforehand. It is a limit recommended for "sport" divers of his experience by the British Sub Aqua Club.

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