A diver from Bien Unido, Bohol who joined the search and retrieval operation for missing Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Boniel was rushed to a decompression chamber in Mandaue City after he was found half-conscious underwater at past 11 a.m. yesterday.
Mel Quaio, 58, of Puerto San Pedro, Bien Unido, is one of four divers hired by Bien Unido’s Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council to join the search and retrieval operation to find the body of Gisela, who is believed to have been thrown off a pump boat between the waters of Cebu and Bohol.
Quaio is currently confined at the Philippine Commission on Sports SCUBA Diving (PCSSD) in Mandaue City after suffering from decompression sickness.
Reports said Quaio went deeper at 70 meters after seeing an object farther down from where he was. When he noticed that he was already short of air, Quaio struggled back to the surface as fast as he could which is not advised for divers.
Other divers who noticed him half-conscious immediately rescued Quaio and brought him upwards to a motor banca which had medical personnel from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (Eruf) waiting on board.
Quiao was rushed to Hilton wharf, some 30 minutes away from the dive site.
Lapu-Lapu City police director Supt. Rommel Cabagnot, who supervises the search and retrieval operation, reminded divers to be always within sight of each other.
Yesterday’s search ended at 4 p.m. with still no sight of Gisela.