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Diving death tragedy
By Sukhi Anand
A PINNER man died after diving down to a submarine wreck off the coast of Dorset.
Claude Lau, 35, a member of the Ruislip and Northwood British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC), died in hospital following the accident on May 26.
Mr Lau was one of ten divers - including his sister - exploring HMS Sidon, a sunken submarine, which lies 32 metres below the surface in Lyme Bay.
The group were diving off a Lyme boat, called the Blue Turtle, in pairs at around 10.30am, when Mr Lau got into difficulty.
Lyme's community police officer, PC Richard Winward, said: "What seems to have happened was Claude Lau went down with his dive buddy and within a few minutes of being down on the wreck, he had some sort of difficulty, which resulted in his dive buddy getting him back up to surface as soon as possible."
The Coastguard helicopter was called and Mr Lau was airlifted to Dorchester Hospital, where he was put on a ventilator in the high dependency unit.
The helicopter then returned to Lyme and airlifted Mr Lau's dive buddy to Poole Hospital, where he was put in the decompression unit.
He was discharged later that day.
PC Winward said: "On board was Mr Lau's sister, who was also diving.
"Police officers waited for her at the harbour to take her at speed to Dorchester Hospital to be with her brother.
"The other divers and the skipper and mate were all asked to come to the RNLI station, where they were interviewed individually about the incident. Both divers' equipment was seized to obtain information from the computers."
Mr Lau died three days after the incident, on May 29.
In a statement, the The Ruislip and Northwood Branch of the BSAC said they were deeply saddened' by the death of their friend and fellow branch member Claude Lau.
They said: "Claude was an active and enthusiastic member of the branch and will be sadly missed by all who knew him. The branch wishes to extend their sincere condolences to Claude's family at this difficult time."
The investigation was taken over by officers from the Dorset Police Marine Section, who are analysing the dive computer to find out what happened.
By Sukhi Anand
A PINNER man died after diving down to a submarine wreck off the coast of Dorset.
Claude Lau, 35, a member of the Ruislip and Northwood British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC), died in hospital following the accident on May 26.
Mr Lau was one of ten divers - including his sister - exploring HMS Sidon, a sunken submarine, which lies 32 metres below the surface in Lyme Bay.
The group were diving off a Lyme boat, called the Blue Turtle, in pairs at around 10.30am, when Mr Lau got into difficulty.
Lyme's community police officer, PC Richard Winward, said: "What seems to have happened was Claude Lau went down with his dive buddy and within a few minutes of being down on the wreck, he had some sort of difficulty, which resulted in his dive buddy getting him back up to surface as soon as possible."
The Coastguard helicopter was called and Mr Lau was airlifted to Dorchester Hospital, where he was put on a ventilator in the high dependency unit.
The helicopter then returned to Lyme and airlifted Mr Lau's dive buddy to Poole Hospital, where he was put in the decompression unit.
He was discharged later that day.
PC Winward said: "On board was Mr Lau's sister, who was also diving.
"Police officers waited for her at the harbour to take her at speed to Dorchester Hospital to be with her brother.
"The other divers and the skipper and mate were all asked to come to the RNLI station, where they were interviewed individually about the incident. Both divers' equipment was seized to obtain information from the computers."
Mr Lau died three days after the incident, on May 29.
In a statement, the The Ruislip and Northwood Branch of the BSAC said they were deeply saddened' by the death of their friend and fellow branch member Claude Lau.
They said: "Claude was an active and enthusiastic member of the branch and will be sadly missed by all who knew him. The branch wishes to extend their sincere condolences to Claude's family at this difficult time."
The investigation was taken over by officers from the Dorset Police Marine Section, who are analysing the dive computer to find out what happened.