An inquest in England into the death of a 14-year-old
British diver found that while waiting on the surface to be
picked up, he was dragged underwater by the weight of
his empty tank.
After a dive with his father to collect scallops off
Berry Head in Devon, England, last August, Louis Price
was treading water while his mother and an uncle tried to
restart the engine of their inflatable boat. Price’s dive lasted
20 minutes; his 30-cu-ft. tank would have given him 22
minutes dive time. When the air ran out, Price, a trained
diver since age 12, lost the buoyancy it gave him, so the
weight of his gear dragged him under. His father had
a bigger tank, which gave him potentially twice as long
underwater. Despite an extensive search, Price’s body was
not found until 19 days after he disappeared, in almost
exactly the same spot where he had vanished.