24 years ago, Americans Thomas and Eileen Lonergan were forgotten on a diving trip on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Her absence was only noticed by the boat crew two days later. A search for the couple was unsuccessful – and their fate became the film template.
The US thriller “Open Water” is not for the faint of heart. The film is about a tourist couple who are forgotten in the water during a dive in the Caribbean due to a counting error by the captain and from then on fight for their survival in the open sea.
The creators used a true story as a basis for the film: the fate of the Americans Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who were forgotten 24 years ago today, on January 25, 1998, on a diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef and were never found again.
The couple traveled to Australia after three years as Peace Corps instructors on the islands of Fiji and Tuvalu. Thomas was 33 and Eileen was 28, both experienced divers. Australia was the first stop on a planned world tour before returning to Louisiana.
Tom and Eileen Lonergan forgotten on dive
Early in the morning of January 25, 1998, the Lonergans took a shuttle bus from their hostel to a marina in Port Douglas, Queensland, where a dive company took them and 24 other vacationers to the edge of the Great Barrier Reef, about 40 miles offshore. The final dive of the day was at a coral formation dubbed “Fish City” for its abundance of marine life. While others followed a diving instructor, the Lonergans explored the site on their own.
At the end of the 40-minute dive, the crew was to log each person’s dives and count heads before the boat departed. However, several crew members were inexperienced and unaware of their responsibilities, which meant that the Lonergans’ dives were not recorded and the count was incorrect. Believing he had all the passengers on board, the captain headed back to Port Douglas.
Forgotten dive bag does not arouse suspicion at first
When all the passengers had disembarked and a Lonergang dive bag and shoes were still in the boat, a crew member assumed someone had accidentally left them. When the shuttle bus driver went to pick up the Lonergans back at the wharf and they didn’t wait at the agreed meeting point, he briefly searched for them at an ice cream shop, nearby cafes, a hotel, and other areas, but couldn’t find them. But even in the diving company, nobody was suspicious and it was simply assumed that the couple had made their way back.
Only when a skipper noticed two days later that the dive bag had still not been picked up and found Mr Lonergan’s wallet inside, and also a call to the hostel revealed that the two had not returned, did the police learn that the couple went missing. On January 28, 1998, several planes, helicopters, and boats, as well as police, navy, and civilian divers, began searching. Despite days of searching, no trace of the Lonergans was found.
Lonergans diving gear washes up
It is still unclear what happened to the two experienced divers. A day after their disappearance, a diver at the same dive site discovered two weight belts that may have been the couple’s. They presumably dumped her after noticing the boat was gone.
On February 5, 1998, a buoyancy vest was found on the beach about 105 kilometers north of Port Douglas. Shortly thereafter, Eileen Lonergan’s green and gray wetsuit washed ashore there as well. Upon examining the barnacle growth on the wetsuit, it was determined that it had probably been in the sea since January. He also had cracks in his buttocks and armpits, which experts say were caused by contact with coral.
In June 1998, more pieces of the couple’s diving gear were found on a Port Douglas beach about 121 kilometers from where the couple went missing. Including inflatable diving jackets with the names of the Lonergans as well as their air tanks and one of Eileen’s flippers. A weather-beaten diver’s plaque (a device used for underwater communication) was also found, which supposedly read “Monday 26 January 1998 8am. To anyone who can help, we were found at Agincourt Reef launched from the MV Outer Edge at 3pm on January 25, 1998. Please help save us before we die. Help!!!”
The Lonergans were believed to be delirious
There has also been speculation that the couple may have staged the disappearance, as another captain reported returning that day with more divers than had originally gone with him, and he also heard American voices among the all-Italian tourists on board. But the Lonergans’ bank accounts were never touched, and their insurance policies were never used. Eileen’s father suspected that the couple eventually became dehydrated and disoriented and ended up drowning or being eaten by sharks.
Based on the condition of the scuba gear found, experts speculated that the Lonergans were probably not attacked by an animal, but succumbed to delirium from dehydration, which prompted them to voluntarily remove their scuba gear. Without the buoyancy provided by the equipment, experts say the couple would not have been able to stay in the water for long and would soon have drowned.
Other diving tourists were also forgotten
The sub’s captain was charged with negligent homicide after the incident. Although he was acquitted, his company was fined after pleading guilty to negligence. As a result, he gave up the company. The Queensland government introduced stricter regulations after the disappearance of the Lonergans, including requiring captains and instructors to independently confirm each head count.
However, there were other cases after the incident. In 2008, a Brit and an American were also forgotten on a diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef. They spent 20 hours near the Pentecostal Islands off Australia’s east coast before a rescue helicopter spotted them. The two had been swept away by a strong current while diving and surfaced around 200 meters from the boat, where they could not make themselves noticeable. Three years later, in June 2011, a snorkeling tourist was also forgotten on the Great Barrier Reef. He finally saw another boat with dive tourists nearby and swam to it. He was taken on board and returned safely to shore.
Sources: “New York Times”, michaelmcfadyenscuba.info, youtube, DPA