A Chinese couple’s diving trip to Sipadan Island in Malaysia took a tragic turn as the man drowned in front of his wife.
The 37-year-old man was with other divers and their guides when he reportedly entered the water without his instructor’s supervision before he drowned.
The incident was reported to the police at 6.45pm on Monday, reported Malay Mail, quoting Semporna police chief superintendent Mohd Sobri Zainol. The incident, however, took place in the morning at around 10.45am, when he jumped into the water allegedly without permission from his guide.
A boatman noticed the victim in a panicked state and sinking, before informing the crew.
“One of the diving instructors conducted a search for the victim and found him unconscious at a depth of about 25m,” Harian Metro quoted Mr Sobri as saying.
“The call was from one of the dive masters, who informed us that he and four other guides had brought with them a total of eight divers of various nationalities to the dive site,” he said, according to The Star.
The victim, not identified by his name, was pulled on the boat and given CPR. Though he briefly responded by gasping and vomiting, he lost his consciousness before being moved to the hospital.
He was first taken to the Semporna Hospital before being moved to the Tawau hospital where he was declared dead, said Mr Sobri.
“We have classified this case as sudden death and a post-mortem will be conducted on Tuesday (May 20) afternoon,” he said.
The authorities have urged those with more information to come forward to assist police in their investigation.
Earlier last year, body of another Chinese tourist was recovered near Mabul Island, a popular diving destination in Sabah.
The victim, Zhang Cao, 31 a solo traveller from Henan, Guangdong, China, was last seen near the island before he was reported missing on 13 December .
Mr Sobri said the discovery was made following a search operation by the Semporna Marine Police, aided by divers from nearby resorts.
