Singaporean diver missing in Palau

“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:

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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