THE inquest into the death of an Urmston man who lost his life while wreck diving in Norway has been hearing evidence.

Father-of-one, Ian David Horridge, was 44-years-old when he died in the water off the coast of Bremanger on June 11 2013.

Senior coroner for South Manchester, John Pollard, heard evidence from witness Kieran James Hatton at Stockport Coroners Court today, October 31.

Mr Hatton, a diving teacher of more than ten years experience, told the inquest how Mr Horridge was part of a group of 12 diving enthusiasts who had booked the boat.

The trip was organised as a diving holiday, with each diver already being qualified and competent in the water.

“The mood in the boat was fantastic. The sun was out and there wasn’t a breath of wind in the air,” remembered Mr Hatton, of Plymouth, who added that conditions were ‘perfect’ for diving.

Having already completed four dives on previous days of the holiday, Mr Horridge – an experienced diver – entered the water from the boat and swam over to a buoy that marked the position of the wreck, 40 metres below.

Reading evidence from boat skipper, Bob Anderson, Mr Pollard described how Mr Horridge had steadily passed a fellow diver on the submerged line that leads from the buoy down to the wreck.

When the other diver reached the seabed, he found Mr Horridge laid on his back with his diving mouthpiece out of his mouth.

Mr Hatton confirmed that if there had been a loss of consciousness, it was likely that the mouthpiece would have be loosed from the mouth.

The unconscious Mr Horridge was brought back to the boat, where Mr Hatton, a trained first-aider, administered CPR.

Mr Pollard said it was likely that Mr Horridge had already lost all signs of life before medics arrived to airlift him to Bergen, Norway.

After the incident, Mr Hatton carried out checks of Mr Horridge’s diving equipment, which included a specialist re-breather device, which was all found to working correctly.

Mr Horridge’s re-breather device utilised two gas cylinders, which the inquest heard contained a typical mix of gasses for the dive he was undertaking.

The system also had two ‘traditional’ oxygen tanks that could be used as back-up and a monitoring system to indicate gas levels and mixes.

Data recorded by the re-breather device after the incident indicated that Mr Horridge had descended in a steady fashion, whereas it was usually the case that divers would stop at intervals.

“Whatever occurred happened very shortly after leaving the surface,” said Mr Hatton, who confirmed his belief that Mr Hatton lost consciousness at the surface.

While the cylinder mixes were optimal for the depth of the dive, Mr Hatton said that the cylinder mix at zero metres (sea level) would be ‘unbreathable’ and that it would take several cycles to achieve the equivalent of one breath of air.

Asked by Mr Pollard what could cause a loss of consciousness at the surface, Mr Hatton said: “hypoxia, a lack of oxygen to the brain.”

Asked what could cause hypoxia in those circumstances, Mr Hatton added: “Either the oxygen not getting into the breather or breathing purely that mixture at the surface.”

Mr Horridge was employed as a structural surveyor and was project manager for the construction of Chill Factore in Trafford.

A keen diver and cyclist, he was a captain at Stretford Wheelers and cycled at the Velodrome.

Mr Horridge’s wife, Sandra, described her husband as a ‘Wonderful man’, who was devoted to his family and 23-year-old son.

The inquest precedes.