By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

TWO divers died on Saturday during a fishing trip off Rose Island, apparently after suffering from the bends.

Family members and other loved ones were inconsolable at the scene as the men’s bodies were taken away in hearses.

Some loved ones hit the vehicles and physically tried to stop them from leaving as screams of grief filled the air.

At the scene, police press liaison Assistant Superintendent Audley Peters shortly after 1pm, police received calls of the drownings that occurred in the vicinity of Rose Island. The victims were brought ashore at the Montagu dock.

The officers responded, and on their arrival, they met the captain of a 21-foot fishing vessel who pointed to two men in his boat who were unresponsive. Emergency Medical Services were summoned and following their assessment of the victims they were pronounced dead.

 “Our initial investigations into this matter suggest that a crew of three left on a fishing trip this morning around 9am. Following their expedition on a particular drop, they would’ve caught a number of fish and came up onto the boat. As they were going to their next drop, one of the divers collapsed on board the boat,” ASP Peters added.

“The captain then stopped the vessel and began to render first aid. At that time, the second diver realised that his colleague might have been suffering from what is known as ‘the bends,’ he too then jumped overboard in an attempt to decompress his body.”

  The bends, or decompression sickness, is caused by rapid changes in pressure while diving. It can be fatal.

 “While the captain was rendering first aid to the first victim, he noticed that the second diver while overboard was floating. So he then stopped his assistance and retrieved that diver from the water and attempted to render first aid. However, he had to bring both victims to the dock here on Montagu,” ASP Peters said.

 He said the deaths have not yet been classified and the boat’s captain is assisting with the investigation into the incident.

 He also said: “We encourage the men of this particular craft to exercise the necessary due care in using the apparatus that are necessary to go down and retrieve fish at the depths that we were told these fishermen went to. We don’t know the circumstances – why it happened, how it happened. I’m not a professional in this area…”

 ASP Peters said the victims are between 40 and 56 years old.