True Story Behind 'Open Water'

Imagine surfacing from an ocean dive only to discover your boat is gone and you're completely alone. This scary situation actually happened to Tom and Eileen Lonergan on January 25, 1998. Tom and Eileen Lonergan were experienced divers on a trip to Australia's Great Barrier Reef when their dive boat crew left them behind. Two days passed before anyone realized they were missing, and rescue teams searched for the married couple unsuccessfully for days. The two were never seen again, their bodies assumed to be lost at sea.

#OpenWater #Sharks #WeirdHistory

[GreenGlo]

The fact that no one raised the alarm about them is just... like the hopelessness they must’ve felt.

[BlueHooloovoo]

Not only did the dive company not notice they left behind two people, they didn't even notice that their diving equipment was missing until much later? It's unbelievable how negligent this dive company was.

[TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

This is why a lot of people have fears of the ocean. It truly is a terrifying place, with the addition to the fear of the unknown. Who knows what's lurking beneath the depths.

[FreedomWriter]

"How do you think you would've survived being abandoned at sea?" I wouldn't. The paranoia alone would've killed me.

[ron-paultamayo]

When my grandmother was still a young adult, she went scuba diving just off the hawaiian coast, and she said she too was abandoned by the boat, but not long after, two paddle boarders found her, and brought her back to shore. She said it was terrifying out there alone, and she firmly believes the two paddle boards were angels.

[kirbymarchbarcena]

Negligence of the crew in charge of the dive tour is the primary reason that this mess had happen.

[_JayRamsey_]

"How do you think you would've survived being abandoned at sea?"
*I wouldn't.*

[rosen_venus]

"The couple was missing for two days-"
Oh, that's not so bad, I guess.
"-before anyone even realized they were gone."
*Oh.*

[heatherhillman]

It is terrifying to know that a tourist dive company is so disorganized and incompetent that these people were left out there in the first place, and they seem completely unconcerned when they finally do figure out something is wrong. At least they went out of business.

[sharonarroyo]

The fact that they asked for help in a note to be rescued, tells me that they did not plan any type of suicide or disappearance by them from the ocean.

[JG-kkmr]

Two years after they disappeared my family went on a holiday to Port Douglas, and we spent one day snorkelling on the great barrier reef. I still remember crystal clear how seriously the crew took the head count. I was only a kid but I remember how much they reiterated how important it was. Now it all makes sense.

[SicknesS]

Floating in the dark in the middle of the ocean probably scared them dead. All your deep sea horrors come to life.

[lisabanaszak]

My daughter worked with the sister of the guy. She told my daughter the family had suffered greatly not knowing what happened & thinking about their fear in the water. A very sad case.

[Salty-cracker]

This is the most horrifying thing I could possibly imagine

[bobbys]

Tom was a friend that I worked with when he was still in the USAF in Albuquerque. What happened to him and Eileen was terrible and should have never happened.

[tubadude]

We went on a dive boat in Thailand and my wife and I were dropped off to snorkel in fairly open water, and the boat took off to the dive spot. That was freakin spooky and as soon as it was visible again we waved it over and got back on board. It must have been horrifying for that unfortunate couple.

[txmoney]

I saw the move, Open Water. It was genuinely terrifying.
Very few supernatural horror films are as terrifying as the horrors of real life.

[mysticalpineapple]

Nothing would be more terrifying to me. Left in the middle of the ocean and you can’t see land

[sthomas]

I watched a 2 hour documentary years ago about this couple. I recommend it to anyone interested in this case, it was full of weird and unexplainable facts. The one that really sticks to me is that they were not alone on the reef that first night after being abandoned. There were several other dive and fishing boats that were anchored on the reef that night, and they interviewed some of those people. They said if the couple was stranded and yelled for help they would surely have heard them.

[thomlodge]

Don't sit alone on the boat, make friends with people. How did nobody know they were not there?