A 36-year-old Singaporean man died on Saturday, March 23 while scuba diving in Bintan.

According to The Straits Times, Yeo Boon Han, an accountant, was on a three-day-two-night advanced open water diving course conducted by GS-Diving.

He had signed up and attended it alone.

Yeo was on his second dive of Saturday when the incident took place.

The course had begun the day before on Friday.

The incident

A GS-Diving spokesman told ST that during the second dive, Yeo had indicated to his dive buddy that he wanted to ascend to the surface.

When the two of them had completed the ascent, Yeo was unresponsive and had to be towed back to the dive boat by his buddy.

The dive crew then administered first aid to Yeo.

This involved putting him in the recovery position and giving Yeo CPR and oxygen.

He was then brought to a medical clinic at a nearby jetty via a fishing boat where the doctor pronounced him dead.

The GS-Diving spokesman told ST that Yeo had not shown any signs of discomfort or illness before the start of the second dive.

According to the equipment of Yeo’s dive buddy — a certified rescue diver — they had also been diving at a depth of 25m when Yeo signalled his need to ascend.

The maximum depth for advanced open water diving courses is 30m.

11 other divers

Speaking to Channel NewsAsia, GS-Diving indicated that there were four other divers taking part in the advanced open water course, with another seven divers taking part in an open water course and leisure diving.

The other 11 divers have returned to Singapore.

The dive crew also consisted of one instructor, three divemasters and two divemaster trainees.

Support for the family

GS-Diving noted that their “current efforts are focused on providing support to his family members and taking care of their emotional well-being during this period of bereavement”.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told CNA that the Singapore Consulate-General in Batam has met with the family to render consular assistance.

They were also quoted by CNA as extending their “deepest condolences to the bereaved family”.

Top left image from Boonhan Yeo Facebook, right image from Mitchel Wijt Unsplash