Wives still seeking 'justice' over Yorkshire divers' deaths in Greece

The wives of two divers who died two days apart on a diving trip in Greece say they are "disappointed" they still do not have answers over their deaths.

Vincent Hong, from South Cave, and Timothy Saville, from Huddersfield, died off the island of Kea in 2019.

On Wednesday, Senior East Yorkshire Coroner Professor Paul Marks returned an open conclusion following a joint inquest into their deaths.

Mr Hong's wife, Lily Yeung Hong, said: "We want truth and justice."

"Two divers went on the trip of a lifetime and never came back. We just have to pursue to find the answer," she added.

Following the inquest, Mr Saville's wife, Elizabeth Saville, said: "I feel disappointed we've not got definitive answers. All we've got are a number of possibilities."

The inquest in Hull heard the two men were experienced scuba divers who were part of the same organised diving expedition to photograph two separate shipwrecks off Kea in September 2019.

Vincent Hong, 53, a consultant cardiac anaesthetist at Castle Hill Hospital in East Yorkshire, died on 27 September after he ran into difficulties and lost consciousness on his way up from the Burdigala wreck, the inquest heard.

Two days later businessman Timothy Saville, 61, died after he also ran into difficulties and lost consciousness as he dived down to see HMHS Britannic, a hospital ship and one of the Titanic's sister ships, wrecked off Kea in 1916.

Prof Marks concluded the cause of death for both men was "related to scuba diving".

He said hypertension was also a contributing factor in Mr Saville's death.

The coroner said all those involved had been "let down" by the Greek authorities because they "did not carry out analysis for carboxyhaemoglobin", which forms in red blood cells upon contact with carbon monoxide.

Nor did they test the men's gas cylinders for carbon monoxide, he said.

A second post-mortem examination for both divers, which was carried out in England, found concentrated levels of carboxyhaemoglobin.

Prof Marks told the inquest carbon monoxide poisoning could not be "confirmed or refuted".

Mrs Saville, 49, a teacher, said: "The initial post-mortem in Greece was incomplete, and then when we got the post-mortem in Britain it had different findings.

"It's just very frustrating trying to get to the bottom of things and trying to work out what's the truth, really.

"I think if the Greek authorities had done things more thoroughly at the time, we probably wouldn't be in this situation at the moment."

Meanwhile, Mrs Hong, 52, a midwife said she was left feeling "numb and very angry" as the coroner delivered his conclusion.

The owner of dive company, Kea Divers, is accused of negligent manslaughter over the two men's deaths and is due to stand trial in Greece in January, Mrs Saville said.

Both women have been summonsed to attend the criminal court case.

Mrs Hong said: "I want to look at [them] face to face. Hopefully we'll have the opportunity to ask the owner of Kea Divers about exactly what happened.

"I'm not here to blame them. I just want some truth."

Following his open conclusion at the inquest, Prof Marks added he would write to the relevant authorities in a bid to have defibrillators installed on boats and to highlight the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning among divers.

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