A coroner’s inquest in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, into the 2019 scuba diving dying of British music producer Karl Bareham has heard he might have died from Immersion Pulmonary Oedema (IPO) precipitated by persistent alcohol abuse.
New South Wales Coroner’s Courtroom was additionally advised that poorly functioning dive tools might have performed a component within the 37-year-old’s dying.
Mr Bareham was diving at a preferred dive website close to Julian Rocks – also called Nguthungulli – roughly 2.5km off the coast of Byron Bay on 24 September 2019 when he was discovered unresponsive on the ocean flooring along with his regulator out of his mouth.
Bareham, a British citizen dwelling in Canada on the time, was a licensed diver with 21 logged dives. He had arrived in Australia the day earlier than and brought a refresher within the morning previous to his dive.
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Though Mr Bareham suffered with persistent alcoholism, solely low ranges of alcohol had been present in Mr Bareham’s blood autopsy, which the court docket heard was most likely from having ‘a few drinks’ the evening earlier than.
Witnesses – together with Bareham’s dive information – mentioned that they may scent alcohol on his breath earlier than the dive that morning, however he didn’t seem like impaired.
Two medical specialists giving testimony earlier than the coroner mentioned that Bareham’s alcoholism might have been a contributory think about a ‘sudden cardiac occasion or seizure’ which in the end induced his dying by drowning.
A 3rd medical knowledgeable, Dr Glen Hawkins, nonetheless, urged that Bareham’s reason behind dying was attributable to Immersion Pulmonary Oedema, a situation introduced on hypertension which causes divers’ and swimmers’ lungs to spontaneously fill with fluid when submerged in cool water.
Dr Hawkins mentioned that Bareham’s liver illness and cardiomyopathy – an enlargement of coronary heart muscular tissues which may be attributable to persistent alcohol abuse – predisposed him to undergo an IPO.
IPO is understood to trigger divers to suppose their air provide or regulator is malfunctioning, which may result in them eradicating it from their mouths in panic.
Scuba diving technicians testifying on the inquiry have mentioned that the regulator Mr Bareham was utilizing was not match for objective. NSW police diver Senior Constable Craig Dodd advised the court docket that the regulator second stage’s cracking effort was ‘unusually excessive’ and located that it was ‘considerably more durable to breathe off’ at a simulated depth of 9m throughout a dry chamber dive.
It was later revealed to the court docket, nonetheless, that the regulator had been left uncovered to sand and seawater whereas makes an attempt had been made to resuscitate Mr Bareham, and that the gauge used to check the regulator cracking stress had not been correctly calibrated – each of which raised questions over whether or not or not the regulator may very well be thought-about unsafe for diving on the time Bareham was utilizing it.
When questioned concerning the situation of the regulator and its function in Bareham’s dying, Drs Millar and Hawkins mentioned that whereas the regulator’s cracking stress may need been excessive, most individuals would have nonetheless been in a position to breathe from it underwater, and would have tried to floor if it had introduced a real drawback.
Bareham’s father and sister have flown out from the UK to attend the listening to, which is anticipated to conclude on Friday.