31 deaths from diving in the past 10 years

Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela said that there have been 31 deaths related to diving in the past 10 years.

Abela replied to a parliamentary question posed by PN MP Graziella Attard Previ who asked the Minister how many divers have died in the past 10 years.

Between 2014 and September of this year, there were a total of nine drownings while diving, and 22 deaths because of pressure change due to diving (barotrauma), bringing the total to 31 deaths.

The year which saw the highest number of people who died while diving was 2018, with a total of five deaths, followed by 2014, 2015 and 2016 which recorded a total of four deaths in each of the years.

Attard Previ also asked how many divers entered hospital due to problems of decompression in the past five years.

Since 2019, Abela said that 375 divers received care both at the Hyperbaric Unit at Mater Dei Hospital as well as at the Gozo General Hospital.