The Sydney Morning Herald is today reporting that police from the Australian state of Queensland have been working with US FBI and police from the US state of Alabama, first searching the house of, then arresting an American whose wife died during a dive on the wreck of the SS Yongala in 2003.

Queensland detectives have swooped on the US home of a man whose young wife died during their Australian honeymoon, it was reported.

Tina Watson (nee Thomas), 26, drowned while she was diving with her husband, Gabe Watson, on the Great Barrier Reef, near Townsville, in October, 2003.

Apparently Ms Watson was an inexperienced diver, while Mr Watson was a certified Rescue Diver.

The Yongala is a magnificent wreck, lying in around 30m in current-prone water near Townsville in Tropical North Queensland.  It is one of the most incredible dives I have done, with amazing fishlife and coral growth.  Currents can be strong, and is a dive that generally requires people to have at least an Advanced Open Water Diver certification.

It will be interesting to watch to see how this case develops.  Although there are occasional deaths in diving, with their resultant inquests and coronial enquiries, it is rare to see murder charges against a person’s buddy.   Most charges, if laid, are against operators for negligence.

It will be very interesting to see what evidence is presented to support the charges of murder.

Qld police arrest US man over reef death - Breaking News - National - Breaking News.

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Posted on Thursday, April 26th, 2007 at 7:53 am | filed under |RSS 2.0 feed | Respond, or Trackback.