Police in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) are looking into the death of an American tourist, who sadly died after he went diving just off of Gili Trawangan island.
According to the Mataram Search and Rescue office, 49-year-old Tyeson Cluff and a group of travelers went diving at Shark Point while being guided and supervised by local company Dream Dive Center on Sunday afternoon.
The guide on duty said Cluff was separated from the group after they had dove to a depth of 15 meters to observe coral reefs. The guide said Cluff appeared to be heading to the surface, but he was soon out of sight amid limited visibility in the water.
“They looked for the victim but couldn’t find him. The guide, as well as other divers, decided to stop the dive in order to conduct a search from the water surface around the diving area,” Mataram Search and Rescue Head Wahyu Efendi said.
The diving center then reported Cluff missing to the authorities, after which an official search was carried out.
Cluff was eventually found at 8:08am the next morning by a Dream Dive Center employee. The victim, who was found 0.93 miles from the dive site at a depth of 21 meters, was still wearing his full diving gear.
The North Lombok Police says it has questioned six witnesses in the case thus far, comprising Cluff’s travel companions and Dream Dive Center staff.
It remains to be seen if police would rule Cluff’s death an accident or if it was caused by negligence.
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