A TEENAGER who died during a diving accident off Brixham this summer may have run of air, an inquest heard.

Louis Price disappeared while diving for scallops with his father Stephen near an area known as The Quarry off Berry Head.

The 14 year old, an experienced diver, had been coming to the Bay on holiday with his family for many years and had carried out at least 20 dives in Tor Bay, including a successful dive the day before his death.

Police diving experts told the hearing the teenage student, of Newport, Wales, had been using a smaller capacity air tank than expected and may have run out of air necessary both to breathe and in his suit to keep himself afloat after the dive.

PC Peter Gough, of the Plympton-based police diving unit, said Louis was carrying a nine-litre air tank on his back when his family had believed he had a 10-litre tank.

He said Louis would only have had enough air for a 22-minute dive, adding: "From my professional point of view, he had insufficient air for a dive to that depth."

The inquest heard how on the morning of his death on August 12, the teenager, described as a 'talented young boy who loved anything about the sea', travelled with his family from the static caravan site where he was holidaying at Widdicombe Farm, in Paignton, to Brixham marina.

The only child, his father, mother Tracey and uncle and aunt, Karen and Gary Pearce, took a six-metre rigid inflatable boat called Diver One out of Brixham harbour towards Berry Head.

The sea and weather were calm but visibility under water was limited to three to five metres.

In a statement read in court, Stephen Price, an accomplished diver with more than 200 dives, said the dive went well and they stayed under water for 15 to 20 minutes looking at marine life. Their ascent went as planned and father and son stopped for 60 seconds at a depth of five metres for a safety stop.

A sobbing Mr Price said: "He was checking his air gauge and looked fine and not distressed. I could see him two or three feet behind me. I surfaced and there were bubbles everywhere. I could see the RIB. It started drifting away.

"I started swimming towards the boat. I heard Karen say 'There's Louis'."

He added: "I could not reach the RIB but another boat came round. I looked round but I couldn't see Louis. That's when I realise something must have gone wrong and something must have happened to Louis. I was sobbing and pleading for someone to find my son."

The inquest heard how the RIB suffered engine breakdown and was not able to reach the divers straight away but had to signal for another diving party to help.

Louis' mother said she saw her son break the surface and lean back on his inflated lifejacket while waiting for the boat to come and pick him up, a position he always adopted during previous dives.

She said: "As the other boat got to Stephen I couldn't see Louis any more. I noticed they didn't help him into the boat.

"The boat then circled around where he had been but we couldn't see any bubbles.

"When the RNLI lifeboat later came to us I felt extremely sick and panicky."

PC Gough added: "It is possible that Louis didn't have enough air to put into his suit and dropped back below the surface.

"In cases like this you have to react very quickly and start ditching your equipment."

Louis was also spotted briefly on the surface by some of the 11 marine biologists and divers on board the charter boat Jennifer Ann, but did not respond to shouts from family members.

A huge search was mounted including more than 20 ships and helicopters as well as coastguard cliff teams. Rescuers were stood down after 36 hours.

Richard Parker, owner of the Jennifer Ann, who went to the RIB when it broke down and started drifted away from Louis and his dad, said: "I put a mayday call when I heard there was a diver missing. There were no bubbles where he should have been. Usually when you come up from the bottom, divers expel some air and you can see bubbles."

Robert Randall, one of the marine experts onboard the Jennifer Ann, said in his statement that the missing diver did not have a marker buoy of his own.

Fellow marine scientist and eye witness Dominic Flint added: "We moved our boat and collected the first diver. I helped get his equipment off.

"He seemed confused and distracted and must have been worried about the situation.

" When I asked where his diving buddy was, he said it was his son."

Despite the intensive search, Louis' body was not found.

It was eventually recovered 18 days later when a bird watcher spotted a body off Berry Head, near where the incident had happened.

A postmortem examination was later carried out but failed to ascertain exactly how the teenager died.

Coroner's officer Ric Parsons said there were no suspicious circumstances.

Speaking at yesterday's inquest, Louis's aunt and uncle Karen and Gary Pearce vowed never to return to Brixham after the tragedy destroyed their family.

Mrs Pearce said both father and son had been responsible divers who took diving seriously, knew the risks and never took any risks.

She added: "The effect of his loss has devastated this family."

Her husband added: "Louis was a talented young man who packed a lot into his short life. This has been a real tragedy for this family. I doubt we will ever go back to Brixham."

Returning an open verdict, Torbay Coroner Ian Arrow summed up saying: "I cannot imagine what a tremendous loss it must have been to his family."