KEY LARGO, Fla. - More details are emerging about the accident that tragically took the lives of three New Jersey divers off Key Largo Friday, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

The lone survivor of the quartet who went diving together Friday morning, Howard Spialter, was initially thought to have been stationed outside the entrance to the wreck.

Monroe County Detective Mark Coleman said, after speaking with Spialter, he actually entered the wreck with the other divers. Spialter said they weren't sure where they were inside, but he thought he knew the right direction. As he ran low on air in his dive tanks, he tried to tell the others which way to go. They wouldn't listen.

"He went one way and they went the other," said Coleman. "He lived because he went the right way and got out."

Spialter told the detective he grabbed the hand of one of the others, in an attempt to get him to follow. That is the last he saw of his friends.

Two other divers, from another dive boat, found Kevin Coughlin and pulled him out, but it was too late.

"At some point, Coughlin also started in the right direction to get out, but he didn't make it. We don't know what happened with him," said Detective Coleman. "Either he ran out of air before he got out, or he may have embolized in a section of the wreck where there is a long, steep ascent on the way out."

The other two divers who died were Jonathan Walsweer and Scott Stanley. Their bodies were recovered inside the wreck Saturday.

Coleman said he has discovered some reasons why this terrible tragedy may have occurred, besides the fact that the men were diving in an area of the ship not intended for such forays.

According to Coleman:

- The men, all experienced divers, did not have a dive plan. A dive plan, he says, is crucial in order to make sure all participants in the dive know what to expect, and to make sure the divers are properly prepared for the coming dive.

- The men had no dive reels with them to show them the way out of the wreck. Dive reels are spools of line which are attached at the entrance to the dive. The divers let out line as they progress and, thus, are able to find their way out again.

- The men did not take enough dive tanks with them to complete the dive. Normally, according to Detective Coleman, divers planning an extensive penetration dive such as this one take down "stage tanks" which are staged all along the dive route so they have new tanks when they run low on air. These divers had several stage tanks with them, but they were staged much higher in the vessel, and closer to the entrance, than their bodies were found. They only carried single tanks with them. Had they had a safety line, they may have been able to find their way back to the tanks.

- Detective Coleman said when he interviewed Spialter, he admitted they did not take all the safety precautions they should have to complete the dive.

"The divers who went in to recover the bodies said this portion of the ship has large amounts of silt built up inside," said Detective Coleman. "It doesn't take very much movement to kick that silt up and cause problems with your ability to see. Without a line to follow out, and with lots of silt in the water, it would have been virtually impossible for them to find their way out of the wreck," he said.

The Spiegel Grove is a popular dive spot off of Key Largo. The upper portions of the ship have many areas that have been prepared specifically for penetration dives with holes cut for ingress and egress, and markings on the walls showing clearly which ways to go. The portion of the ship these divers were in, were in the bowels of the vessel, not intended for use as an entrance to the wreck.

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