In 1998, Tom and Eileen Lonergan were accidentally left behind during a scuba diving trip in the shark-infested waters of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – a real-life disappearance that later inspired the film Open Water and fueled speculation of a staged vanishing.
Their bodies were never found, but personal diaries left behind revealed unsettling entries, including Eileen’s fear of being “caught in” her husband’s “death wish that could lead him to what he desires.”
On January 25, 1998, Tom, 33, and Eileen, 28 – who had recently completed a two-year stint with the U.S. Peace Corps in Fiji – were on an extended trip through the South Pacific.
‘Shark City’
After completing two 40-minute dives, they prepared for a third descent at a site fittingly nicknamed Fish City – a spot teeming with aquatic activity.
Local fisherman Mick Bird, who was nearby that day, later revealed that shark activity in the area was unusually high. “Every time we threw a line, we’d pull in a shark,” he said. “They should rename that place Shark City,” Bird said, per the Daily Mail.
Last time seen alive
Meanwhile Bryan Brogdan, a British charter guest who dove alongside the Lonergans during the final dive, recalled admiring a giant clam embedded in the reef with the couple, bathed in sunlight piercing through the water.
Brogdan eventually returned to the boat, but Tom and Eileen remained below – staying longer than the dive crew had advised.
He was the last known person to see them alive.
Inaccurate count
Around 3:00 p.m., when all divers were expected back aboard, former skipper Geoffrey “Jack” Nairn asked crew member George Pyrohiw to conduct a headcount. It was a routine but critical safety protocol – and one that required absolute accuracy.
According to Pyrohiw, there should have been 26 people on board. But during the count, two passengers jumped back into the water to take final photos, creating confusion. Pyrohiw claimed he only counted 24, but when he reported it, he said Nairn responded: “And two in the water makes 26.”
That assumption, later disputed by Nairn, would prove to be a catastrophic miscalculation – those two last-minute swimmers were mistakenly counted twice.
What followed was a chain of oversights that compounded the tragedy.
Missing divers unnoticed
When the Outer Edge docked in Port Douglas later that afternoon and passengers began disembarking, two dive bags were still on board – untouched. Rather than raising alarms, the crew moved them aside, assuming their owners would call once they noticed them missing.
A routine inventory also revealed two missing air tanks and two weight belts, yet again, no one questioned it.
Meanwhile, Norm Stigant, the driver assigned to return passengers to their hotels, noticed that Tom and Eileen never showed up for their shuttle. He reported it but was told not to worry and eventually left without them.
As night fell, the Lonergans were still stranded somewhere in the vast Coral Sea.
Bags finally opened
Over the next two days, the MV Outer Edge chartered two more dive trips to St. Crispin’s Reef with a fresh group of tourists who were unaware that two people had been missing.
Finally, noticing that the two unclaimed dive bags were still sitting on his deck, the skipper decided to open them.
Inside one of the bags was a wallet, identification documents, and the same shirt Tom had worn on the day of the dive.
Aware that something had gone wrong, Nairn called for help.
No sign of the couple
Within hours, a massive air and sea rescue effort was underway.
For the next three days, Navy aircraft, helicopters, police, and civilian boats scoured the vast expanse of the Coral Sea, desperately searching for the Lonergans.
But despite the scale of the operation, there was no sign of the missing divers – only empty water and a growing sense of dread.
Belongings recovered in water
Ten days after the pair had vanished, the first grim clues began to surface. Tom’s buoyancy compensator, with his name clearly labeled on the pocket, was discovered floating in the ocean – 50 miles north of St. Crispin’s Reef.
Not long after, a green and grey wetsuit, believed to belong to Eileen, washed ashore. The buttocks area had jagged rips, which authorities suspected may have been caused by a shark bite. Her buoyancy vest, dive hood, fins, and air tank were eventually recovered as well, scattered along the Queensland coastline.
