Diver's dying moments captured by tourist

Death dive ... a tourist is unaware of Tina Watson's (circled) struggles as a diving instructor swims over in a bid to save her / Pic suppliedDiver's dying moments captured by touristBy Richard Shears
November 22, 2007 01:00am
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Picture shows US tourist sinking to death
Police believe diver killed by husband
Novice diver was "an easy target"

WHEN he posed for this underwater holiday snap, the diver in the foreground thought he would merely have a souvenir for the family album.

In fact, this picture is now a key piece of evidence at the inquest into the death of a young woman.

Ringed on the right in the photograph is the body of American honeymooner Tina Watson, who police believe was killed by her husband as the pair dived in Queensland.

On the left is a diving instructor swimming desperately towards Mrs Watson in the hope of saving her life.

The unidentified tourist in the foreground, and his friend who took the picture, did not realise the drama they had captured with their underwater camera.

Crime scene 'frozen'

It was only after the picture was processed and they learned of 26-year-old Mrs Watson's death that they realised they had "frozen" a possible crime scene.

Mrs Watson and her new husband Gabe travelled from their home in Alabama to Australia for their honeymoon in 2003.

Ten days later, she died 24m below the surface of the Coral Sea after diving down to a wrecked boat off Townsville.

Mr Watson, a certified rescue diver, raised the alarm when he surfaced, saying his wife had got into difficulty in strong currents.

But police have expressed concerns about his account of the incident and are investigating his wife's death as a possible murder.

Mr Watson has not been charged in connection with the incident and will give evidence to the inquest in Townsville via video-link from the US.

'Mental anguish' compensation

He has claimed hundreds of thousands of dollars compensation from a travel insurance company for the "mental anguish" he says he suffered after witnessing his wife's death.

But US police have officially named Mr Watson as a murder suspect.

The FBI and two Queensland detectives seized his computer and other material in April this year.

Detective Gary Campbell told the inquest there were "issues of concern", including a supposed malfunction of Mr Watson's dive computer.

He has also given several differing reasons as to why he could not rescue his wife, all of which were contradictory to his qualifications as a rescue diver.

The inquest continues.

half inch octo

for the first time in 3 (three) weeks i have not seen octos. normaly i see one on every night dive, but for the past 3 weeks i have not. untill november 1st, ending a 3 week no sighting. i almost swam over it, untill i seen one of his vents move, then i got a little closer and seen reflection of light from my dive light from at the time i thought it was a shell. which turned out to be his eye. all - in - all he was a half (1/2) inch long. a great find indeed. sorry if its a little blury, my brother bumped my shoulder just as the picture was being snapped. you can spot this guy's eye dead center of the picture.

small starfish

this little starfish was so small, it was the size of a quarter. i finally got a good picture of such a small starfish, before they never turned out.

juvenille flounder

my brother and i where 55fsw (fsw = feet of salt water) and he pointed out this juvenille flounder. never seen one so small here in the puget sound before.

shrimp with white eye

one of the best pictures of a shrimp in a long time. ok when our picture is taken, sometimes we have what is called red eye on the picture right? on a crestation, would it be white eye?