Czech divers fined, banned from 'Garibaldi' wreck after fatal accident

CAVTAT, Croatia (12 Sep 2008) — A court in Croatia fined a group of Czech scuba divers and banned them from diving on the wreck of the Garibaldi after a fatal scuba diving accident.
Officials in Croatia told CDNN the court ruling followed the death of Jan Otýs, a ProTek certified cave diver who died on September 10 while diving on the Garibaldi.
Czech diver Zdeněk Partyngl, who organized the tragic dive, was sentenced to 10 days in jail and expelled from Croatia.
The sentence was suspended after Partyngl paid a $6,500 fine.
The court ruling accused Partyngl and others in the group of violating laws that protect Croatia's submerged cultural heritage from scuba looters.
The Czech divers denied stealing artifacts from the Garibaldi, however, authorities said they had refused in the past to cooperate with archaeologists and government officials who are responsible for protecting Croatia's underwater cultural heritage.
In recent years governments have become increasingly wary of a relatively small, but belligerent group of scuba diving criminals who are systematically looting and destroying submerged cultural resources such as shipwrecks for bragging rights, personal artifact collections and internet auction profits.
The 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage states that "underwater cultural heritage shall not be traded, sold, bought or bartered as commercial goods".
Diver death
The Garibaldi wreck extends to a maximum depth of 124 meters and is lying on its starboard side.
Authorities told CDNN that Jan Otýs encountered problems at a depth of about 90 meters and was forced to make an emergency ascent.


Apparently Otýs drowned during the ascent before he reached the surface.
Last month, three Czech nationals died while scuba diving in Croatia, a popular scuba diving destination for Czech divers.