Mexico.
Photograph by: Courtesy of the Cross family.
CALGARY — A Calgary man is devastated after his wife died in a scuba-diving incident now under investigation by Mexican police.
Ronda Cross, 41, was diving Saturday with her cousin off Cabo San Lucas when she died, overcome by carbon monoxide in the scuba tanks, according to her family.
They are blaming faulty rental equipment.
“The carbon monoxide levels that were in her, she basically just fell asleep,” said her husband Colin Cross, who was golfing in Florida with his father at the time.
“My life has just been torn apart and ripped in half.
“I can’t even fathom what next week or the week after will look like. I thought growing old with her was all it was going to be. Continuing diving together and enjoying our vacations together,” Cross said.
Ronda’s cousin, Roxanne Amundson, and the pair’s dive master felt sick and had trouble breathing when they surfaced.
Ronda did not surface with them.
Her body was pulled out of the water by the crew of a nearby boat who found her floating in the water.
The group had been diving at a depth of about 23 metres.
Both Ronda and Colin have undertaken 200 dives and have travelled around the world for scuba experience.
Colin Cross said it was Sunshine Dive and Charter that filled the tanks for the group, but a staff member who answered the phone denied his shop had anything to do with the tanks.
The company lists itself as a five-star facility certified by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors.
Cross said he believes whoever filled the tanks was negligent and he’s warning anyone considering a dive trip in a developing country to ensure the rental tanks have been properly filled and inspected before using them.
“The blame has got to be put squarely on who filled up those tanks,” said Cross. “I just want people to know. My wife would want to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
The couple met in Calgary in 1999 and married in 2003. Cross moved from Ontario in 1994 while Ronda arrived from Fort Nelson, B.C., that same year. They have lived in Elkford, B.C., for the past four years.
Cross said he has a teenage daughter from a previous marriage and he and Ronda were planning to adopt a child.
He works as an IT technician and she worked part time as a dental assistant.
“We tried to take at least two months’ vacation a year,” said Cross. “We just felt, you may as well do it now when you’re young and can enjoy it.”
Ronda’s body is expected to arrive in Calgary today.
A memorial service is planned for Saturday in Elkford.
cho@calgaryherald.com
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Original source article: Family blames Calgary woman’s death in Mexico on faulty scuba equipment |