Melanie Stoddart, 38, from Prestwich in Greater Manchester, died of compression sickness shortly after arriving in the Maldives

A British tourist struck down by 'the bends' on a scuba diving trip in the Maldives died after it took nine hours to get her to a decompression chamber.

An inquest heard Melanie Stoddart, 38, died of decompression sickness shortly after arriving in the Indian Ocean island for a 12-day holiday with her boyfriend.

There was a delay in Ms Stoddart receiving medical help because there was initially no boat or plane to take her to hospital.

And upon her arrival at hospital, medics did not even treat her for decompression sickness, the inquest into her death was told.

Her parents, Peter, 68, and Irene, 64, slammed the 'sheer incompetence' of the authorities in the Maldives and warned other tourists to 'take note' before booking a similar trip.

The inquest in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, heard how Ms Stoddart, an experienced diver from Prestwich in Greater Manchester, had arrived in the Maldives on April, 1, 2012 with her boyfriend Steve Greathead. She had been on the same holiday the previous year.

On the third day of her organised trip, she was in a party of 12 holidaymakers and two instructors who went to Vaavu Atoll for the last scuba dive of the day just after 3pm.

The inquest was told she returned to the surface after about 30 minutes and asked for medical help as she was feeling unwell.

Doctors were called and she was taken to the exclusive Alimatha Aquatic Resort nearby.

When it became clear her condition was deteriorating the resort's doctor said she needed to be taken to a decompression chamber, but there was no transport available.

A speed boat only arrived from neighbouring Bandos Island, more than 40 miles away, when insurance checks had been carried out.

A doctor sedated Ms Stoddart, but decided she was not stable enough to be put in a decompression chamber.

She was then transferred for a second time by boat six miles to the capital of Male where CT scans of her head and chest were taken at the ADK Hospital.

But at 2.15am the next morning she went into cardiac arrest and died half an hour later.

Doctors were called and she was taken to the exclusive Alimatha Aquatic Resort (pictured) nearby

The court heard how Ms Stoddart, an experienced diver, had arrived in the Maldives on April, 1, 2012 with her boyfriend Steve Greathead. She had been on the same holiday the previous year

Initially a post-mortem examination proved inconclusive and it took specialist tests carried out on samples of brain tissue to detect damage caused by nitrogen bubbles being present in her blood stream.

Divers' disease, or 'the bends', is a condition caused from dissolved gases coming out of solution into bubbles inside the body on depressurisation.

Consultant Pathologist Dr Andrew Hitchcock told the hearing that the minute damage caused by the bubbles and a ruptured left ear drum suggested Ms Stoddart had decompression syndrome.

Her father, Peter Stoddart, of Holmeswood, Derbyshire, told the court his daughter was a qualified diving instructor and member of a club who had dived all over the world.

'Nothing was too much for her, she never failed and was never fazed,' he said.

He said the family had spotted 'discrepancies' in the reports from police and tour company Scuba Tours Worldwide which raised serious questions about the safety procedures in place.

'It's my opinion there were no proper safety procedures in place on these islands,' he said. 'For a people and a country that relies on diving for its main income I would assume there would have been.

'The time lapse was nine hours and that is just not acceptable,' he added. 'If she had been in a chamber within an hour she would have been stable enough to deal with it.'

Melanie Stoddart was diving from the MV Sea Spirit (pictured) in the Maldives when she was taken ill

The ADK Hospital in the Maldives capital of Male where Ms Stoddart died in the early hours on April 4, 2012

Recording a narrative verdict, coroner Paul McCandless said: 'Melanie was a practiced and experienced sea diver who took unwell on a dive. Due to a lack of appropriate transport at that time of day there was a delay in taking her to an appropriate facility.

'Once there, there was a partial misdiagnosis that she was not suffering from compression sickness. She was deemed to be too unwell to go into the chamber and was transferred to hospital

'It is possible that if her condition had been diagnosed sooner that she would not have died when she did.'

He added: 'Holidaymakers need to be aware of what emergency procedures are in place should any particular difficulties arise.'

After the hearing Melanie's mother Irene, 64, said: 'My daughter's death was down to sheer incompetence. She received no treatment for nine hours, how can that be right?'