Diver tells of anguish as wife drowned in Malta, and no one jumped in to help

The husband of a British diver who drowned in Malta has spoken of his disappointment that no one on shore had helped them, so as not to get wet. Mother-of-two Deborah Ward, 46, from Cleckheaton died after finding herself in difficulties during a dive on the tugboat Rozi, off Cirkewwa. Husband Christopher Stephenson said his wife and himself had only just arrived over the Rozi in Cirkewwa when she signalled that she wanted to surface. He did not realise it was an emergency and they started a gradual rise to the surface, 25 metres above. But Mrs Ward, an experienced diver, went motionless half-way up and he had to pull her up to the top. A few metres from the surface her air mouthpiece fell-out. Mr Stephenson said when they surfaced he had to dump their gear and swim in to the shore where there were hundreds of people standing about. No one jumped in to help them until he got her up to a ledge. “They didn’t want to get wet. They knew what was happening but no one came in to help,” Telegraph and Argus reported him as telling an inquest.. Once Mrs Ward was on a ledge, some did help get her on dry land and revive her but she never regained consciousness. “I think she had already gone...