Accident at Dutch Springs 9/27
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SueMermaid
Guest
A friend of mine forwarded an email from our dive shop owner, who was at DS the day of the accident. Names are omitted. The details are graphic, heartbreaking and it makes me feel like I swallowed a brick.
I hope that understanding what happened here will save some lives.
Dive safe.
--------
I was at Dutch Springs on Sunday and was able to talk to a few of the folks that tried to revive her. Including an instructor from our shop. Here is what they told me.
Ms. X was with a very large group of divers doing a night dive back at the "Pump House" area. For those who have been to Dutch this is the area to the Southeast of the student area. This area has a new loading area to suit up and is next to the bridge that extends about 1/3 accross the quarry. Dutch Springs staff uses this to watch divers in this area. This bridge extends to the bottom and out to about 60' in depth. There is also a platform at 60'. There is a red float on the platform, and you can reach it by the surface. We have been decending from the loading area, along the bridge to the bottom, then follow the line to the platform at 60'. Gather our divers then proceed to the pump house by rope which is sometimes at nearly 80'. Follow the pipes around to the wall and return.
From what I was told, Ms. X was with a class doing a Night Dive, but she was an Open Water Diver who was NOT involved in the class. I do not know how many divers were in this group, but was told it was very large. They decended down the bridge and Ms. X got caught either by her octopus or gauges on the metalwork at the bridge. At this point, the divers got seperated from the rest of the group. As she was struggling to get free, her friends that stayed with her, released her from her BCD to get it unstuck. The BCD was weight integrated. She made a rapid ascent to the surface.
There was an awful scene at the waters edge that night as the other divers from different shops returned to the shore. There was a call for more oxygen, as they now had several victims. Bloody froth was oozing and many gathered to witness the horror, then turn away. The worst scene, her mother was at the dive site. Amid screams and confusion, someone was able to move her mother to another area. The EMT on staff at Dutch was working as well and did an excellent job keeping some order as they tried to revive her. She was pronounced at the hospital. Two others were also taken to the hospital, but I have no word on their condition.
On Sunday her equipment was found on the bottom and she had 900 PSI in her tanks. The unit seemed to be severly overweighted, but then that is all relative. They could not tell exactly what depth she went to becaus the dive unit slipped to the bottom and had that as the maximum depth.
I was doing a rescue class on Sunday and it was a very subdued group of divers at the Springs. When I spoke to (x) early on Sunday morning, he was extremely saddened. This tragedy did not need to happen. It is always more than one thing that takes a life. The groups could have been smaller. No sure her experience level, except Open Water. I do not know if she was JUST certified or had been diving. We could all speculate what other things should/or could have been done to resolve this. I have been involved in situations that could have resulted in disaster, but we used our training. Stop, think, act.
May you all be safe in your diving. Again, this is not an official report, but I thought you all might want to know the facts that were given to me on site.
I hope that understanding what happened here will save some lives.
Dive safe.
--------
I was at Dutch Springs on Sunday and was able to talk to a few of the folks that tried to revive her. Including an instructor from our shop. Here is what they told me.
Ms. X was with a very large group of divers doing a night dive back at the "Pump House" area. For those who have been to Dutch this is the area to the Southeast of the student area. This area has a new loading area to suit up and is next to the bridge that extends about 1/3 accross the quarry. Dutch Springs staff uses this to watch divers in this area. This bridge extends to the bottom and out to about 60' in depth. There is also a platform at 60'. There is a red float on the platform, and you can reach it by the surface. We have been decending from the loading area, along the bridge to the bottom, then follow the line to the platform at 60'. Gather our divers then proceed to the pump house by rope which is sometimes at nearly 80'. Follow the pipes around to the wall and return.
From what I was told, Ms. X was with a class doing a Night Dive, but she was an Open Water Diver who was NOT involved in the class. I do not know how many divers were in this group, but was told it was very large. They decended down the bridge and Ms. X got caught either by her octopus or gauges on the metalwork at the bridge. At this point, the divers got seperated from the rest of the group. As she was struggling to get free, her friends that stayed with her, released her from her BCD to get it unstuck. The BCD was weight integrated. She made a rapid ascent to the surface.
There was an awful scene at the waters edge that night as the other divers from different shops returned to the shore. There was a call for more oxygen, as they now had several victims. Bloody froth was oozing and many gathered to witness the horror, then turn away. The worst scene, her mother was at the dive site. Amid screams and confusion, someone was able to move her mother to another area. The EMT on staff at Dutch was working as well and did an excellent job keeping some order as they tried to revive her. She was pronounced at the hospital. Two others were also taken to the hospital, but I have no word on their condition.
On Sunday her equipment was found on the bottom and she had 900 PSI in her tanks. The unit seemed to be severly overweighted, but then that is all relative. They could not tell exactly what depth she went to becaus the dive unit slipped to the bottom and had that as the maximum depth.
I was doing a rescue class on Sunday and it was a very subdued group of divers at the Springs. When I spoke to (x) early on Sunday morning, he was extremely saddened. This tragedy did not need to happen. It is always more than one thing that takes a life. The groups could have been smaller. No sure her experience level, except Open Water. I do not know if she was JUST certified or had been diving. We could all speculate what other things should/or could have been done to resolve this. I have been involved in situations that could have resulted in disaster, but we used our training. Stop, think, act.
May you all be safe in your diving. Again, this is not an official report, but I thought you all might want to know the facts that were given to me on site.
docmartin
Contributor
Horrible. sounds like she did not exhale going up. it is possibly the most fundamental skill in scuba but unfortunately easily forgotten in a panic situation because it is so counterintuitive. so terribly sad...
When going up that fast exhaling might not be enough.
ScottyK
Contributor
How very sad. What a terrible thing to happen to someone so young.
I know all the details aren't in, but I'm still having trouble understanding what a student on her first night dive was doing by the pump house, and how they got seperated from thier instructor.
I did my AOW at DS in 1997. We had two instructors take five students out for the night dive. We went out to the first platform in the student area, which I believe was only 15 or 20ft deep. We submerged, hung out for a few minutes, and swam straight back.
Has the acceptable student/instructor ratio, or the night dive training specs changed in the last few years, or do different shops just do whatever they feel is right?
I know all the details aren't in, but I'm still having trouble understanding what a student on her first night dive was doing by the pump house, and how they got seperated from thier instructor.
I did my AOW at DS in 1997. We had two instructors take five students out for the night dive. We went out to the first platform in the student area, which I believe was only 15 or 20ft deep. We submerged, hung out for a few minutes, and swam straight back.
Has the acceptable student/instructor ratio, or the night dive training specs changed in the last few years, or do different shops just do whatever they feel is right?
I always have a lot to say when we hear about (or I see) these tragic things happen but I'm trying not to. We never have good factual info about accidents and never will. I also try not to watch the stuff that goes on when at the local holes.
The one thing I have to comment on though is that I can't imagine an entanglement that would require a diver to get out of their gear when they have help.
Events like this are more than sad they make me angry beyond what I can even describe.
The one thing I have to comment on though is that I can't imagine an entanglement that would require a diver to get out of their gear when they have help.
Events like this are more than sad they make me angry beyond what I can even describe.
OP
mwilding
Contributor
I was thinking the very same thing...
there are other reports out there that differ quite substantially form this one. She was not with an instructor - but an assitant and was found in 85 ft of water - with all her gear on.
Either way it is very sad - most reports seem to agree she was open water certified quite recently
I find myself wondering 2 things
What an earth would make an inexperienced diver want to take on a deep night dive in very cold water ? ( there is very little that would make me do an 80ft night dive in dutch spings )
Why would an experienced diver make a dive plan that would put a new diver in this environment
Either way it is very sad - most reports seem to agree she was open water certified quite recently
I find myself wondering 2 things
What an earth would make an inexperienced diver want to take on a deep night dive in very cold water ? ( there is very little that would make me do an 80ft night dive in dutch spings )
Why would an experienced diver make a dive plan that would put a new diver in this environment
I was at Dutch Springs on that weekend... heard a bunch of different things, but I have to say that SueMermaid's forwarded post seems to be most likely to be accurate, based on the way that the events are described and the details.
I guess there will be some sort of official statement at some point. However, if this really is the way that it happened, the important point would be the danger of releasing someone (especially someone in a stressful situation) from a weight integrated SCUBA unit.
No matter what her training or actions, she might well have been doomed once she was separated from her gear. At depth in a (presumedly thick and buoyant) wet suit with no weight, she would probably have shot to the surface in an uncontrolled ascent. I am not sure how she could have saved herself, even by flaring her body, once she started to rise (unless she could have grabbed onto something). If she was already panicked, it might not have occurred to her to grab her gear (or something else) and just stop and breathe until it was too late. This would especially be true if she was suddenly and unexpectedly released from her gear by someone else...
I'm not trying to point fingers, but it is obvoiusly vital that we all learn from a tragedy like this, and consider everything that we might or might not do in the situation... and even if the details of this tragedy are different from those outlined here, it is still a good exercise to analyze this situation and draw conclusions. In an entanglement situation, if you have some kind of gas available (yours or someone else's), it is vital to stop, breathe, think and act, so that things don't go from bad to worse...
I guess there will be some sort of official statement at some point. However, if this really is the way that it happened, the important point would be the danger of releasing someone (especially someone in a stressful situation) from a weight integrated SCUBA unit.
No matter what her training or actions, she might well have been doomed once she was separated from her gear. At depth in a (presumedly thick and buoyant) wet suit with no weight, she would probably have shot to the surface in an uncontrolled ascent. I am not sure how she could have saved herself, even by flaring her body, once she started to rise (unless she could have grabbed onto something). If she was already panicked, it might not have occurred to her to grab her gear (or something else) and just stop and breathe until it was too late. This would especially be true if she was suddenly and unexpectedly released from her gear by someone else...
I'm not trying to point fingers, but it is obvoiusly vital that we all learn from a tragedy like this, and consider everything that we might or might not do in the situation... and even if the details of this tragedy are different from those outlined here, it is still a good exercise to analyze this situation and draw conclusions. In an entanglement situation, if you have some kind of gas available (yours or someone else's), it is vital to stop, breathe, think and act, so that things don't go from bad to worse...
The report by Sealkie appears to have merit. I spoke with another iinstructor who was at the cove and he indicated diver was found with the gear still on. Lets wait for the official form the local authorities before this thread leads into the abyss.
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