4 diveres went missing - Malpelo, Colombia

[Jayfarmlaw]

Sever hypothermia can cause feelings of intense heat, (Google "paradoxical undressing") but excessive salt water ingestion can cause delirium from dehydration as well. The survivors mention the cold water. Either way, it's a sad deal. Prayers for all involved.

What Are the Side Effects of Drinking Sea Water? |

Get Naked and Dig: The Bizarre Effects of Hypothermia

Jay

 

[Dan]

This reminds me of Jon Krakauer, the author of "Into Thin Air, A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster", where he observed similar situation, where climbers took off gloves & jacket before passing out.

This removal of wetsuit might have happened early, after the rescuers found her inflated SMB. She could also have been separated from others then too.

 

[MariaF]

The body found is the missing diver, Erika Vanessa. My condolences goes out to her family.

 

[Dan]

Sever hypothermia can cause feelings of intense heat, (Google "paradoxical undressing") but excessive salt water ingestion can cause delirium from dehydration as well. The survivors mention the cold water. Either way, it's a sad deal. Prayers for all involved.

What Are the Side Effects of Drinking Sea Water? |

Get Naked and Dig: The Bizarre Effects of Hypothermia

Jay

Having a half-liter water bottle would be wise to have in this kind of remote diving in the middle of no where with hardly any boat traffic. I think I can squeeze that plastic bottle in my BCD pocket. It'll be close to neutrally buoyant anyway in the sea.

Again my deepest condolences to Erika Vanessa Diaz's family & friends.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I hope they find Carlos soon too.

 

[Sunn]

Cause of death : hypothermia and drowned.

May she rest in peace.

 

[Juan Ojeda]

Hello. I am Peter Morse the Australian "American" that was involved in this story. There are a number of things that are either incorrect or omitted still within the media. I have currently withheld my story from the mainstream media as it is certainly controversial and I have hoped that media would so far focus on hope for finding Vannesa and Carlos for the sakes of their families. I am afraid my story will open up a pandoras box regarding negligence and potential culpability in events leading this this horrible story and in the search that took place (much) after. Unfortunately, as hope for the families might be fading, the Colombian media has begun searching for who to incriminate for their loss. I would just like to take this chance within the dive community to say that if anyone really does need clarification on events that take place they are welcome to contact myself and I will endeavour to relay candid and objective information. I can only say now that Vanessa and Carlos were fantastic people, and while I am happy to still be here, I am at the same time incredibly saddened by their loss. My heart goes out to their family and friends and I wish them the strength to get through this time.

Hello Peter, my name is Juan Ojeda, first of all Im glad you are safe, my wife and I have been to Malpelo twice, one of those trips we were aboard MV Maria Patricia some years ago, in one of those dives she was near to get lost, she and her group were driven by a current near "La Ferreteria" and we found them after a search of almost one and a half hours only because the large buoy she had with her, of course we learned some lessons back then, any way are planning to go again there next year, could you pls let me know what do you think failed that caused this unfortunate accident? Thank you.

 

[Dan]

Malpelo sounds like a wild & crazy place to dive in with fast current, in the middle of nowhere without any other boat around. If I were diving there, which I won't, I would bring along a 2-way radio, like the Nautilus Lifeline, have a pre-discussion with the captain on which radio frequency channel to talk to, if we got swept away with current, so I could tell him our GPS location. If no answer received, we could press the red SOS button to send emergency signal to all boats passing by. I heard some boats in Galapagos loan such Nautilus Lifeline to each divers for such situation to occur. Over there the water is cold too due to the Humboldt current.

In addition to that, I'll carry a PLB, just in case as a backup, where I can send SOS directly to the satellite when no boat is coming after a day floating in the water. And carry a half liter of water to keep me hydrated, preventing from drinking salt water that can make me even more dehydrated & going crazy with heat flash that leads to taking off my gears and wetsuit.

 

[Sunn]

Malpelo sounds like a wild & crazy place to dive in with fast current, in the middle of nowhere without any other boat around. If I were diving there, which I won't, I would bring along a 2-way radio, like the Nautilus Lifeline, have a pre-discussion with the captain on which radio frequency channel to talk to, if we got swept away with current, so I could tell him our GPS location. If no answer received, we could press the red SOS button to send emergency signal to all boats passing by. (...)

There is no boat passing by.... Malpelo is away from all routes...

Good news : the sanctuary is about to be enlarged from +/- 6000 up to 27000 square kilometers.
Bad news : Colombians fail to completely stop fishers in the area, how will they do when it will be 4x bigger ??

 

[Juan Ojeda]

Al, unfortunately fishers come mostly from other countries, even from China (shark finning), the zone is way large and military resources are very limited. I guess that any help from countries with additional resources would be highly appretiated by the Malpelo Marine Park Foundation in order to enhance control in the area.