A 47-year-old Hastings port worker and father of three could not be revived after getting into difficulty while free-diving at a Napier beach in December. The coroner who investigated his death is urging middle-aged New Zealanders to seek a medical check-up before they dive.
"Recreational divers should continually ensure they are medically fit to dive," said Coroner Rachael Schmidt-McCleave. "[They] should seek specific medical advice when there are any changes in their health, when they change medications, when they turn 45 years of age and at least every five years thereafter."
Those remarks formed part of her findings into the death of Sagote, also known as Jack Lemalu, who drowned while free-diving at Bay View, north of Napier, on 22 December, 2025. She found that while drowning was the cause of death, underlying cardiovascular disease had contributed to it.
Sagote had gone free-diving for mussels with friends that day, equipped with goggles, a snorkel, flippers and a wetsuit. He knew how to swim but had not dived much, and one friend observed that he appeared a little worried, possibly because of his limited experience with free-diving. Shortly afterwards, his companions spotted him struggling in the water and moved to pull him toward shore, but he lost consciousness before they reached it. A friend began CPR and emergency services were called. Despite those efforts, Sagote could not be revived. A post-mortem examination confirmed drowning as the cause of death, with cardiovascular disease identified as a contributing factor.
Coroner Schmidt-McCleave noted that Sagote's doctor had never discussed diving with him, and that Sagote had never undertaken a diving medical at the practice. "What is clear from the evidence before me ... is that Mr Sagote had underlying atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease; conditions which are certainly contraindicative to safe diving," she said.
She also set out the physical demands that diving places on the body. "Diving exposes people to many effects, including immersion, cold, elevated breathing pressure, exercise and stress. The heart's capacity to support an elevated blood output decreases with age and with disease, meaning diving of any sort (including free diving) is not recommended for people with underlying cardiovascular disease."
Her findings also quoted Rob Hewitt, the kaihautū Māori of Water Safety New Zealand: "[The] fact is, Māori men, Pasifika men, men of all shapes and sizes - when we get to a certain age, we can be defensive and overconfident about our ability in the water."
Heart disease as a factor in diving fatalities was not new territory for Coroner Schmidt-McCleave. The previous year she found that underlying heart disease contributed to the death of Gideon Te Ahuru, 60, who died while diving in Wellington. In that case, a police dive squad report also found that Te Ahuru's second-stage regulator on his diving equipment was faulty, his dive cylinder was out of testing date, and it ran out of air.
Coroner Schmidt-McCleave extended her condolences to Sagote's whānau and friends for "their sad loss."
