DAN puts Malta incidents into perspective

DAN Europe’s Cristian Pellegrini

Citing a report commissioned by Malta’s Professional Diving Schools Association (PDSA) and the Malta Tourism Authority this year, Pellegrini said that 68% of Malta’s dive-centres were owned by foreign nationals, of whom 22% came from the UK.

There had also been an increase from 3% to 7% in the number of Polish divers opening dive-centres in Malta in the past four years.

The largest group of recreational divers came from the UK at 25% of the whole, while 17% came from Germany and 11% from France. Only 5% were Maltese.

Describing Malta as a mecca for divers, Pellegrini said that it was “rated as a top diving destination in Europe and one of the best in the world for its natural context, unique wrecks and also quite interesting caves”.

He also stated that diving in Malta was known for its safety and that the number of incidents and fatalities was “not alarming”, in the context of the amount of diving taking place there.

Of the 5,000 emergency medical-assistance cases dealt with by DAN worldwide annually, 25 had been reported from Malta in 2023 and nine so far this year. In order of importance the most common causes of concern were decompression illness (DCI), barotrauma, trauma, marine-life injury and gas toxicity.

Also read: Magical Malta and Gozo Family Holiday, Part 1, Magical Malta and Gozo Family Holiday, Part 2, Enter The Virtual Museum: Underwater Malta

Source link : https://www.scubadivermag.com/dan-puts-malta-incidents-into-perspective/

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Publish date : 2024-07-21 07:00:00

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