CLARK FREEPORT – Rescuers recovered last Monday and yesterday the bodies of an American diving instructor and a Chinese-Hong Kong national who got trapped late last Sunday in the engine room of the sunken ship USS New York off the coast of Subic Freeport.
Brady Favor of the law enforcement department of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) identified the fatalities as Chinese national and Hong Kong resident Tin Shun Chuen, 30, and American Steven Brittain, 47.
Favor said the body of Chuen was recovered late afternoon last Monday, while that of Brittian only at about 8:19 a.m. yesterday.
Brittian, a long-time resident of Olongapo City, was a diving instructor, while Chuen was also an experienced diver training for “technical diving”.
“The victims seemed to have been trapped in the engine room of the shipwreck which was about 80 feet under water,” he said, noting that the shipwreck, along side the Japanese shipwreck Shanmaru, is located in one of the shallowest portions of the bay where other shipwrecks, mostly dating to the last World War II, have become an attraction to divers.
The USS New York was a United States Navy armored cruiser scuttled in Subic Bay to avoid Japanese capture during World War II.
The victims, together with their friend British national Chong Fong Lung, who also resides in Hong Kong, rented diving gear from the Sadeleir shop and headed off to Subic Bay for a dive into the site of the USS New York at about 3 p.m. last Sunday.
Lung told probers that he and the two victims had examined the sunken ship and were about to head to the surface with him on the lead, when he saw Chuen heading back to the engine room where Brittian, who was lagging behind, seemed to be signaling for them to come back.
Lung said the waters then became very murky and he lost sight of his companions as held on to a rope that led him to their boat manned by a Filipino skipper.
Favor said Lung sought help after the Chuen and Brittian failed to surface after half an hour.
Six divers from the Boardwalk dive shop located the two around 5:30 p.m. Monday, but their bodies could not be retrieved immediately due to murky waters.
Favor said the bodies were recovered by rescuers from the SBMA Harbor Patrol, the Philippine Coast Guard, and divers from local diving shops.
“Sea dust, which is produced from any impact on the sea floor, seemed to have made visibility zero during the incident,” Favor said.
He said diving activities in the area were not suspended after the accident. “There is no reason to ban diving in the area and the incident was an isolated one,” he added.
