Fujairah: Scuba instructors in the UAE are advising people to only dive with licenced centres following the disappearance of a Jordanian national off the coast of Fujairah.
Sultan Sabha, 41, went missing at the site of a German submarine wreck at depths of 110-metres, 46km from shore on April 15 in 2018.
A year on, it has been revealed that only his gas tank and camera, showing video of him apparently getting caught up in fishing line, has been retrieved from the wreck of the Nazi U-boat, which was depth charged (an anti-submarine warfare weapon) by British bombers back in 1943.
Diving in the UAE is usually very safe and incidents are like plane crashes, very tragic, but rare, and it’s important at the end of the day that we learn from it, understand the reasons why and evolve.
Simon Nadim of XR Hub Diving in Fujairah, who recovered the camera and gas tank in May and December of last year, and is continuing the search for Sabha, told Gulf News: “It was an unfortunate chain of events that led to this accident, a special case.
“Diving in the UAE is usually very safe and incidents are like plane crashes, very tragic, but rare, and it’s important at the end of the day that we learn from it, understand the reasons why and evolve.”
Mohammad Samir of Nemo Diving Centre in Fujairah, agreed: “We don’t want to make people paranoid about diving, there is recreational diving that the majority of divers do, which means they cannot go beyond 40 metres, then there is technical diving where you can go beyond 40 metres.”
Dave Griffiths of Divers Down Fujairah, said: “You should always stay to within the limits of your training and have a buddy diving with you. Plenty of people are trained to go within 18 metres but only 10 or 12 people in the UAE are probably qualified to do that particular wreck dive.”
It’s important to add that none of the instructors speaking to Gulf News were passing judgement on Sabha’s particular case, the full details of which remain unknown, but they were speaking in a bid to warn the diving community in general.
“The most important thing is to dive with a dive centre because unfortunately if you go with a friend, and your own equipment, nobody is there to look for you,” said Samir.
Griffiths agreed: “When you dive with a commercial company, all those things like where you are going and when you are coming back are documented with the coastguard.
“They also have safety equipment, guides and training for every eventuality, and all those things that go with making your day that bit safer.”
Nadim said: “We can’t lecture people, but if you go out with a dive centre, they have the required logistics, planning and surface support, plus scooters to fight the tide. We have liability and do our best to make sure nothing happens. We also bring extra equipment, six or seven tanks per diver and enough oxygen to last double the amount of time of your planned dive, just in case anything happens.
Nadim added that no two dives of the same depth were similar due to vastly differing conditions.
“So if you have gone to 110-metres in the Red Sea, it won’t be the same as going to 110-metres off the coast of the UAE, it’s challenging and requires proper planning.”
Griffiths echoed this, and said: “It’s a great wreck but in the middle of a very busy shipping lane with horrendous currents, so if you get the timing of your dive wrong it’s horrible, like standing on the top of a cliff with a gale force wind blowing, you’re just not going to fight it.”
How did the wreck get there?
In 1943 a British RAF bomber based in Sharjah dropped four depth charges on the German Nazi U-boat as it rounded the Gulf of Oman. Only one of the 53 sailors survived. The wreck, discovered in 2000, now sits 110-metres down, 46-km off the coast of Fujairah, in one of few reminders of how the UAE was affected by the Second World War.
— Never dive beyond the limits of your training.
— Always buddy up with a dive partner.
— Research conditions and plan the dive extensively.
— Double check your equipment and health status.
How did the wreck get there?
In 1943 a British RAF bomber based in Sharjah dropped four depth charges on the German Nazi U-boat as it rounded the Gulf of Oman. Only one of the 53 sailors survived. The wreck, discovered in 2000, now sits 110-metres down, 46-km off the coast of Fujairah, in one of few reminders of how the UAE was affected by the Second World War.
