Snorkelling and breath-hold diving fatalities in New Zealand, 2007 to 2016

New Zealand's (NZ) long coastline offers a diverse underwater environment with abundant opportunities for harvesting seafood and for recreation. Fatalities from snorkelling/breath-hold diving have been reported from the 1960s through to 2006. Those from 2007 to 2016 are reported here.

The National Coronial Information System, the Australasian Diving Safety Foundation diving fatality database, and the Water Safety NZ "Drownbase" were searched and additional coronial data provided by the NZ Ministry of Justice. An anonymised database was created and analysed for multiple factors. A chain of events analysis was performed for each case.

There were 38 snorkelling or breath-hold-related deaths in NZ, 33 men and five women. Twenty-nine were breath-hold divers involved in gathering seafood, and six 'surface snorkellers', predominantly sightseeing. Two-thirds were diving alone and/or were not being observed by anyone out of the water. Twenty-eight victims were classified as overweight or obese and 19/38 were Maori. Pre-existing health factors that may have or definitely contributed to the fatality were present in 30 cases. The most common of these were cardiac (18/38). Two divers had insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, one each epilepsy and asthma whilst cannabis and/or alcohol were possible factors in seven deaths. Five (possibly six) deaths resulted from apnoeic hypoxia.

Overall, death from snorkelling/breath-hold diving was an uncommon event (38 in 10 years). Poor judgement was a common feature. Middle-aged Maori men with pre-existing disease feature strongly. This suggests an on-going need for appropriate water safety education within and beyond the Maori community.