Families of Yorkshire divers who died on Greece trip ‘may never know what happened’

Investigation into deaths of Vincent Hong and Timothy Saville ‘let down’ by Greek authorities, says coroner

The families of two men from Yorkshire who died on a scuba diving trip in Greece have been told they may never find out exactly what happened to their loved ones.

A Hull coroner has said it is not possible to determine what caused the deaths of Dr Vincent Hong, a consultant cardiothoracic anaesthetist, and Timothy Saville, a Huddersfield businessman, who died within three days of each other on the same trip.

Hong, 53, died on 27 September 2019 while exploring SS Burdigala, which lies off the Greek island of Kea.

A fellow diver told the inquest that at a depth of 63m they noticed Dr Hong had become entangled in his line and his mouthpiece had fallen out.

CPR was carried out on the surface but he died in a health centre a short time later.

Two days after his death, Saville, 61, died on the same island while getting into trouble diving HMHS Britannic, a sister ship of the Titanic, which was sunk during the first world war.

A witness said less than 12 minutes into the 116m dive Saville appeared to have stopped and his breathing equipment was no longer in his mouth. Saville also died in the health centre after receiving CPR on the surface.

Both men were very experienced scuba divers and the inquest was told how they had trained for two years before the trip.

A UK pathologist found high levels of carbon monoxide in the blood of both men but had been “let down” by Greek authorities who failed to properly gather evidence, the coroner Prof Paul Marks said, recording an open verdict.

He said: “Quite how Mr Hong and Mr Saville met their deaths cannot be determined on the evidence we have heard. We have gone to exhaustive lengths to determine the cause of death in both cases. We have been let down by Greek authorities who did not take blood samples at the time to test for carboxyhaemoglobin levels (carbon monoxide in the blood) and did not examine the gas cylinders.”

He added: “I appreciate how difficult this has been for both families losing loved ones to activities they loved and were excellent at. The fact there were two deaths in three days is not lost on me. Whether this was a coincidence or something else I cannot determine.”

The diving company, Kea Divers, has been charged with negligent manslaughter and will stand trial in Athens in January.

The widows of the men, Lily Yeung and Liz Saville, will give statements at the Greek hearing. Saville said: “I am honestly not sure whether we will get answers over actually what killed them but hopefully we will get some concessions over what we want done better.”

They hoped that divers could be warned about the dangers of carbon monoxide and that defibrillators would be made available on diving boats.

Yeung said: “We are happy with the inquest and to have finally got some explanation even if we will never know exactly what caused their deaths.”