Government officials have officially called off the search for two missing scuba divers who were diving the Peleliu Wall off Palau.
Local media identified the divers as Tan Soon Liang, 62 years old from Singapore, and Xiaxi Wu from China, 43 years old.
Liang has been missing since September 7th, and local media subsequently reported that Wu had also gone missing.
The Search
The search involved Peleliu state rangers, the US Coast Guard rescue center in Guam, private boat owners and Palau national marine search and rescue crews. It lasted five days, but officials officially called it off this week.
Both divers were not novices, according to local reporting, with Liang holding an SSI Instructor Certifier qualification and having logged over 5,000 dives, while Wu had an Advanced Open Water certification with over 240 logged dives.
Local reports said the two were diving as buddies with a larger group, and the divemaster signaled for everyone to start going back to the surface after about 40 minutes underwater. Liang’s marker buoy had apparently become entangled, and the divemaster went to help.
After the two divers signaled they were OK and started ascending, the accounts get rather confusing. The divemaster reported seeing them stop ascending and beginning to sink, but an attempt to follow them was hampered when the divemaster got dizzy after going past his max depth, after which he began surfacing.
PADI describes Peleliu Wall as follows:
“Peleliu Wall is a world-class advanced vertical wall dive on the southern reef of Peleliu Island, 27 km southwest of Koror, Palau. Famous for its sheer drop-offs, vibrant soft coral gardens, and epic pelagic encounters, it’s often called one of Palau’s most thrilling wall dives. Depth: 7–40 m (avg. 15–30 m) Current: Moderate to strong (seasonal upwellings; reef hooks required) Visibility: 20–50 m (best in calm season) Water Temp: 27–30°C Best Season: Oct–May; year-round shark action Type: Vertical wall, coral plateau, caverns, drift dive A dramatic vertical limestone wall plunging from a 10 m plateau to 40 m+, covered in vibrant yellow soft corals, black corals, sea fans, and anemones — a rainbow of marine life. The wall’s crevices and canyons shelter reef fish, while strong currents attract pelagic giants.”
Palau has long been a haven for divers and nature lovers. As a group, divers and nature lovers are aware of their surroundings and do what they can to preserve it. Until a few years ago, they made up the majority of the tourist market.
The Pacific island nation is a great diving destination that has both land-based resorts and a liveaboard industry. Both have their strong points, although it needs to be said that they do all dive the same sites. If you figure five days of diving in a week vacation and three dives a day on most days, you will not repeat a dive site, unless you really want to. Most of the sites are worth a second dive, but doing so may mean missing something just as exciting.
