News coverage around water incidents can be imprecise, and that matters for the public understanding of risk. In the case of Zubeen Garg, early online claims described his death as a scuba-diving accident. Later reporting clarified that the incident was connected to swimming.
In an October 2025 update, The Straits Times reported that the Singapore Police Force provided India’s High Commission with the autopsy report and preliminary findings, stating that he died after swimming in waters off St John’s Island, and not while scuba diving.
More detail emerged in January 2026 during a coroner’s court hearing. The same newspaper reported that he drowned while swimming near Lazarus Island and that he was not wearing a life vest. Channel NewsAsia separately reported evidence presented to the court, including statements that he went into the sea without a life jacket despite reminders.
For divers, the correction is not a small detail. A scuba incident leads readers toward questions about training, equipment, gas management, and underwater supervision. A swimming drowning points to a different set of controls, such as flotation, fatigue, surface conditions, and decisions made before entering the water. When the activity is mislabelled, the safety lesson is also misdirected, and scuba can be blamed for risks that were not part of the event.
This story also shows how quickly misinformation can attach itself to a tragedy. Press Trust of India fact-checking addressed viral underwater clips that were falsely linked to the death, noting that the videos did not match verified reporting. AFP Fact Check also reported that a widely shared “last moment” diver video pre-dated the incident and was wrongly presented as connected to it.
Accurate language is part of responsible reporting, and it is also part of responsible sharing within the dive community. When information is still developing, it is better to use neutral terms such as “water incident” until primary reporting confirms whether it involved scuba, snorkelling, or swimming.
Diventures Team is a multidisciplinary team of scuba professionals, editors, and digital creators, producing accurate and experience-driven coverage of diving, marine life, and ocean culture.
