Deep-sea diver drowns in Chag

Thirty-two-year-old father of eight Shein Gomez drowned on Sunday while deep-sea fishing below the Caribbean Dock Yard jetty, Chagauramas. Gomez’s father Francis Gomez said his son did not respect the sea as he should have. He added: “He and his friends were hunting fish below the jetty and about 45 feet down there is a lot of collapsed iron and piles forming a canopy where the big fish go to hide. “I didn’t know if they went under the canopy. If they had alerted me that was the kind of diving they were doing I would have put a stop to it. 

“I am all about safety. I don’t play with the sea. I fishing over 30 years and I know that you have to respect the sea. He didn’t respect the sea as he should have. I only find out the kind of risk he taking yesterday after the incident. “You already diving so deep, at the edge of your limit, and then you want to go under a canopy? No,” lamented Gomez. The younger Gomez died after his diving belt got tangled with debris beneath the water. The senior Gomez said Coast Guard officers told him his son would have been alive if he had released the belt. Gomez’s body was recovered around 12.30 pm on Sunday after he got into difficulty a few hours earlier. 

Gomez said his son, who lived at St Ann’s Road, St Ann’s, made a living as a taxi driver but used to do diving to earn extra cash. He added: “I taught him to dive—I am a fisherman—but maybe I didn’t give him enough of the safety part. He was a very good diver. “I was in Chacachacare doing charter and had to abandon the trip because I got the call saying he died. So I came up when I get the call, and by time I reach, the Coast Guard were already there.” Gomez said his son’s friends became worried when his son did not surface after some time had passed and one of them went to see what was happening but only saw his fishing gun. He added his son would usually go to depths greater than his friends so they were unable to assist him and had to call in the Coast Guard.