Comments for Are the Open Water Movies About Real People?

Comments for
Are the Open Water Movies About Real People?

Oct 21, 2007

True Story Film 1 - Tom and Eileen Lonergan
by: Robin A., U.S.

Tom and Eileen Lonergan were a married couple from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, who had just recently completed a three year tour of duty with the Peace Corps.[1] They were stranded January 25, 1998, while SCUBA diving with a group of divers off Australia's Great Barrier Reef and were never found.
The group's boat from the Outer Edge Dive Company accidentally abandoned Tom and Eileen due to a faulty head count taken by the dive boat crew. Upon leaving the diving area, the twenty-four other divers and five crew members failed to notice that the couple was not aboard. The couple was left to fend for themselves in shark-infested waters. Although their bodies were never recovered, they likely eventually died of dehydration, drowning, shark attack, or a combination thereof. It was not until two days later on January 27, 1998, that the pair was found to be missing after a bag containing their passports and belongings was found on board the dive boat. A huge air and sea search took place over the following three days. Although some of their gear was found washed up later miles away from where they were lost, their bodies were never found. The recovered gear included a diver's slate (a device used for communicating underwater) which reportedly read: "Monday Jan 26; 1998 08am. To anyone [who] can help us: We have been abandoned on A[gin]court Reef by MV Outer Edge 25 Jan 98 3pm. Please help us [come] to rescue us before we die. Help!!!" Other sources state that the slate simply contained the words: "Please help us or we will die. January 26, 8:00 A.M."

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Oct 21, 2007
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Submitted by: Robin A., U.S.

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Tom and Eileen Lonergan were a married couple from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, who had just recently completed a three year tour of duty with the Peace Corps.[1] They were stranded January 25, 1998, while SCUBA diving with a group of divers off Australia's Great Barrier Reef and were never found. The group's boat from the Outer Edge Dive Company accidentally abandoned Tom and Eileen due to a faulty head count taken by the dive boat crew. Upon leaving the diving area, the twenty-four other divers and five crew members failed to notice that the couple was not aboard. The couple was left to fend for themselves in shark-infested waters. Although their bodies were never recovered, they likely eventually died of dehydration, drowning, shark attack, or a combination thereof. It was not until two days later on January 27, 1998, that the pair was found to be missing after a bag containing their passports and belongings was found on board the dive boat. A huge air and sea search took place over the following three days. Although some of their gear was found washed up later miles away from where they were lost, their bodies were never found. The recovered gear included a diver's slate (a device used for communicating underwater) which reportedly read: "Monday Jan 26; 1998 08am. To anyone [who] can help us: We have been abandoned on A[gin]court Reef by MV Outer Edge 25 Jan 98 3pm. Please help us [come] to rescue us before we die. Help!!!" Other sources state that the slate simply contained the words: "Please help us or we will die. January 26, 8:00 A.M."

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Sep 08, 2007

Marketing Hype
by: Don, BHM Editor

Although it is certainly possible that someone once got left behind at a diving trip, I think any "based on a true story" crap is just that...crap. Marketing hype on a good day. Don

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