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Rachel Olding -
She had dived to World War II shipwrecks off Vanuatu and with whitetip sharks in the Red Sea. By December last year, scuba-enthusiast Carol Martin had clocked up 1000 dives and 15 years as a member of the St George Scuba Club in Sydney's south, but a night dive at Bare Island, off Botany Bay, on February 3 was her last.
Then four weeks after Ms Martin, 52, stopped breathing during the dive, Adam Rothery, another experienced scuba diver, died suddenly at the Royal Sheppard wreck off South Head.
His death was the fourth in as many weeks around Australia, leaving the scuba community asking questions about an unusual spate of deaths and cautiously reviewing safety procedures.
On March 5, a 55-year-old father of two, Michael Williams, suddenly lost consciousness during a dive in Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay. One week earlier, Agnes Milowka, a world-renowned cave diver from Melbourne who was a stunt diver in the James Cameron film Sanctum, ran out of air during a dive near Mount Gambier in South Australia.
''Even though scuba diving is a dangerous activity it's pretty rare that people die. I can't remember ever having that many deaths in such a short space of time,'' said Neil Miller, creator of the Dive-Oz website.
The deaths are unrelated; two were a result of unknown med- ical problems which were exacerbated underwater, but Mike Whitworth, diving officer for Sydney Sub Aqua Club, said divers were concerned.
Photo Jon Reid
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