The disappearance of Thomas and Eileen Lonergan (Fiji)
Heartbreaking. All in my thoughts and. prayers.🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Tom and Eileen Lonergan
Thomas and Eileen Lonergan (Fiji 1996-98), a married couple hailing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, had recently completed a two-year tour of duty with the Peace Corps. Following their service, they embarked on a journey to Australia.
On January 25, 1998, the Lonergans decided to indulge in their passion for scuba diving at St. Crispin’s Reef in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Despite being experienced divers with 80 dives each, tragedy struck during their outing. Accompanied by 26 fellow passengers and five crew members on the boat “Outer Edge,” the couple anticipated a fun day exploring the underwater wonders under the supervision of presumed experts.
The final dive at “Fish City,” a vibrant reef teeming with marine life, began around 2:20PM. However, by 3:10PM, the engines of the Outer Edge roared to life, and the boat departed, unknowingly leaving Thomas and Eileen submerged beneath the waves. The Lonergans were never seen again.
Equipment found
The discovery of their bag on the Outer Edge, two days later, raised alarm. Hotel staff, upon checking the bag’s contents and contacting the Lonergans’ accommodation, learned that the couple had not returned from their dive. News of their disappearance quickly became an international horror story, prompting an exhaustive air and sea search over the next three days.
Diving gear items washed ashore miles from the dive site, suggesting a tragic drowning. A diver’s slate found by fishermen bore a desperate message: “Monday Jan 26; 1998 08 am. To anyone who can help us: We have been abandoned on A[gin]court Reef 25 Jan 1998 03 pm. Please help us to rescue us before we die. Help!!!”
“The Outer Edge”
The safety procedures on the Outer Edge were revealed to be chaotic, with crew members unsure of responsibility for head counts and dive log entries. No records existed for the Lonergans’ depth or time spent underwater. Alarmingly, a mere three days before the ill-fated dive, a Workplace Health and Safety inspector had issued a warning to the boat. While speculation emerged that the couple might have staged their own disappearance, the absence of subsequent bank activity and unclaimed insurance policies refuted such theories. Suicide was also considered but ultimately dismissed.
Jack Nairn, the skipper of the dive boat, faced charges of unlawfully causing their deaths, but was later found not guilty.
The Lonergans’ mysterious and tragic disappearance inspired the movie “Open Water,” released in 2003.
Probably 30 years ago my husband and I were forced out of a scuba boat in Cozumel. We paid for a drift dive but upon boarding realized there were not enough weights for us. They allowed 16 people on a 14 person dive. We asked them to take us back and they refused. We asked to stay on the boat until they went back, and they said they weren’t going back. We got to the reef and the dive masters jumped in along with the 14 divers with weights. The driver forced us to jump in the water. We did. We probably should have taken him down and driven the boat back ourselves, but that wasn’t in our nature. We were scared. But not nearly as scared as when we watched the tour group and dive masters go down to the reef and disappear, leaving us alone on the top and unable to go down. We knew we were in deep trouble. Large wave kept us from being able to talk. The shore was tiny to our vision. We knew we would likely die trying to swim to land. We also knew we could tread salty water and someone could come looking for us when we didn’t show up, but…the dive crew would never admit that we were on the boat. No one would come looking. We held hands, put our heads in the water and began to swim toward shore. Out of nowhere, a boat came by and happened to see us! Saved. The trip took the joy out of diving. We went to some more organized diving places, like the Caymans, but it just didn’t feel good, and after a couple of dives, we quit. We NEVER went back to Cozumel, although we heard their program changed for the better.
Heartbreaking. All in my thoughts and. prayers.🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏