2017 has started with two fatalities in the diving industry, both in Spain.
The first was on January 5th was a diver named Jesus Ramon Vazquez Tojeiro, who was carrying out a dive to recover red coral, commonly used in jewelry that is sold in China. As the amount of red coral declines, divers have to go deeper to find it. This diver died while carrying out a SCUBA Mixed Gas dive. His body was recovered 9 days later on January 14th.
The second diver died on 25th January. His name was Agustin Ortega. Currently we know very little about how he died, just that he was working at the Valdelentisco desalination plant near El Mojón in Mazarrón.
It is widely recognised that Spain has one of the worst safety records in the world, and that their diving regulatory structure is antiquated, and totally inadequate for the diving industry. Lets hope that 2017 can be the start of a total restructuring of the Spanish diving regulations, as they sorely need it.
Augustin Ortega
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