February 20, 2014 - 12:37 PM
KAMLOOPS - A Kamloops couple believe they were seconds from death during a scuba diving expedition in Mexico.
Diane Barry and her husband, Tim, were on a one-day diving excursion off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico, when one of the divers failed to surface.
The tour group was waiting aboard the boat while two other divers went down to search when Barry says without warning the small craft took on water and almost immediately listed heavily.
She says the captain abandoned the three divers below and tried to move the boat to shallower water but the engine flooded and the little vessel tipped on its side, trapping the Barrys and one other person in the cabin.
Barry says she thought she was about to die but her husband hammered open a cabin window and pushed her out, then followed, along with the third person.
All aboard survived last week's incident, floating for 90 minutes on a life jacket raft before being rescued, and the Kamloops couple has returned to Canada, but Barry says she doesn't know the fate of the missing diver or the two searchers.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014