The HMS Scylla Tragedy: Survivor Story
Adam Dent tells the harrowing story of the dive that claimed two lives
Even the most experienced divers can't afford to be complacent when it comes to heading underwater. On September 3rd, 2021, three seasoned divers set off to explore the wreck of the HMS Scylla, which was sunk off the Cornwall coast in the UK in 2004 to create an offshore reef. Only one of them returned.
Mark Gallant, 49, and Andrew Harman, 40, died after becoming lost and disoriented in the engine room of the decommissioned Leander class frigate in Whitsand Bay, Cornwall. Adam Dent, the third diver, managed to escape the wreck, but told the inquest he didn't think he would get out as his air began to run out.
"I couldn't see the exit and became totally disoriented, the visibility dropped as it silted up," he explained. "I lost sight of Mark and Andrew as the silt was really bad, the visibility was zero."
Dent had followed Gallant and Harman into deck three of the warship - the most dangerous because of the silt buildup.