Family mourns S’porean diving instructor, 62, who went missing in Palau: ‘He held immense reverence for the ocean’
Members of the diving community and family members have come forward in remembrance of a well-loved diving instructor who went missing during an expedition in Palau on Sept 7.
Palauan news outlet Island Times reported that the five-day search for two divers — Singaporean Robert Tan Soon Liang, 62, and Chinese national Xiaoxi Wu, 43 — was called off on Sept 11.
The pair, who were reportedly experienced divers, began a dive at Peleliu Wall at about 7.45am local time on Sept 7. According to Island Times, the site is considered an “advanced, difficult, and unpredictable” location because of its currents.
‘Held immense reverence for the ocean’
Instagram account @360watersports.smb, which represents global scuba diving training agency Scuba Schools International (SSI), shared a statement from Tan’s family on Sept 17.
The post explained that Tan, who held an SSI Instructor Certifier qualification and had logged more than 5,100 dives, was on a liveaboard expedition when the incident happened.
Towards the end of the dive, the guide noticed that Tan and his dive partner were descending rapidly, but was unable to reach them.
The family has since accepted that Tan could not have survived, given the extreme depth they were at and their finite air supply.
They added that they decided not to undertake a deep-water recovery expedition, but instead chose to let him “rest peacefully in the ocean he loved”. The family added that Tan had a deep connection to nature:
He held immense reverence for the ocean and had always expressed that, when his time came, he wished to return to the sea.
Although the family expressed regret that Tan could not return home to them, they took heart that he “would not have suffered in the end”.
They believed that, at that depth, Tan would have experienced nitrogen narcosis — a condition where high pressure levels cause numbing, intoxicating sensations — and lost consciousness.
The family also urged the public to refrain from speculations or spreading unverified details.
“The kindest way to support us now is to remember Dad for the life he lived and to respect our family’s decision to let him rest peacefully in the ocean,” the statement concluded.
‘I would never be worried that he was leading me somewhere dangerous’: Diver
Several netizens shared personal experiences with Tan on social media, expressing sadness over the news.
“He was a great diver and a funny guy to boot,” one Redditor said on the scuba subreddit. “It’s absolutely unbelievable to us that he’s gone.”
Another commented: “I personally knew him as well, and we’d always talked about going diving together. Sadly, that day will never come now.”
Speaking to Stomp, 36-year-old Gabriel, who works in the technology industry, said he first met Tan in 2020 when he was inquiring about diving in Singapore for the first time.
He described the diving instructor as an “outgoing” person who peppered his speech with lingo, acronyms, and tongue-in-cheek terms.
Gabriel recalled following Tan on a dive at Pulau Hantu — located South of mainland Singapore — where the latter had marked out certain species of nudibranchs and visited them weekly to check on their growth.
“It was very memorable because if it were not for him I would not have been able to see stuff that was micro, almost microscopic, almost too small to be caught by the naked eye.”
The pair last interacted in 2024, with Gabriel recalling that Tan would always greet the regular divers.
When he heard of the incident, he said his first reaction was shock, as Tan was “renowned for his safety”.
“He was the kind of presence in the water that, if I was being led and guided by him, I would never be concerned about my safety. I would never be worried that he was leading me into somewhere dangerous,” he added.
‘He would just help’: Diver remembers instructor’s friendly presence
Another diver, 32-year-old Toh Xing Jie, told Stomp he knew Tan through diving together at Pulau Hantu. Tan would always be the one finding things Toh had misplaced, he recalled.
“It became almost a running joke that Robert would somehow be around whenever I lost something,” Toh added.
On top of Tan’s humorous and friendly nature, Toh said he was also an “incredibly generous person”.
“What stood out to me most was how willing he was to give his time and experience to other people,” he recalled. Toh also remembered Tan as a veteran who was always willing to help others:
He had been diving for a long time and knew so much, but I never felt like he needed to prove that to anyone. He would just help.
Over the years, he became someone who played a “very meaningful part” in Toh’s journey as a professional underwater photographer.
Tan had guided and assisted him underwater for various work projects, seeing him through significant milestones.
On Tan’s birthday, Aug 14, Toh had sent him well-wishes over WhatsApp. The pair chatted briefly, with Tan asking what was going on in his life.
That would be the last time they spoke.
“Looking back now, I think that is what makes it especially difficult. It was such a normal, everyday exchange, and I obviously had no idea it would end up being one of our last conversations,” Toh reflected.
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