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American fatality in Bermuda
- Thread starter DandyDon
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Anyone know anything about this? Sudden difficulty?
Police Release Name: U.S. Visitor Paul Latham | Bernews.com (Police Release Name: U.S. Visitor Paul Latham | Bernews.com)
The police have named the man who died yesterday (Man Dies Following Diving Incident | Bernews.com) [Jan 13] as 55-year-old Paul Latham of New Hampshire, USA. Mr. Latham a visitor to the island was diving in the waters off of Castle Harbour when he came into difficulty.
A police spokesperson said: The Bermuda Police Service can now confirm the death of 55 year old Paul Latham of New Hampshire, USA.
Mr. Latham, a visitor to the island, was diving with two other individuals in the waters off of Castle Harbour in St. Georges around 1:30pm Sunday, January 13th when he came into difficulty and began a rapid ascent to the surface.
Mr. Latham was placed aboard a private dive vessel which was met and escorted by a marine police vessel to Ordnance Island. A waiting ambulance transported the victim to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 2:42pm by an on call doctor.
A Family Liaison Officer has been assigned to Mr. Lathams family to assist them at this tragic time. The investigation into this sudden death is ongoing and the Bermuda Police Service extends condolences to the family & friends of Mr. Latham.
Police Release Name: U.S. Visitor Paul Latham | Bernews.com (Police Release Name: U.S. Visitor Paul Latham | Bernews.com)
The police have named the man who died yesterday (Man Dies Following Diving Incident | Bernews.com) [Jan 13] as 55-year-old Paul Latham of New Hampshire, USA. Mr. Latham a visitor to the island was diving in the waters off of Castle Harbour when he came into difficulty.
A police spokesperson said: The Bermuda Police Service can now confirm the death of 55 year old Paul Latham of New Hampshire, USA.
Mr. Latham, a visitor to the island, was diving with two other individuals in the waters off of Castle Harbour in St. Georges around 1:30pm Sunday, January 13th when he came into difficulty and began a rapid ascent to the surface.
Mr. Latham was placed aboard a private dive vessel which was met and escorted by a marine police vessel to Ordnance Island. A waiting ambulance transported the victim to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 2:42pm by an on call doctor.
A Family Liaison Officer has been assigned to Mr. Lathams family to assist them at this tragic time. The investigation into this sudden death is ongoing and the Bermuda Police Service extends condolences to the family & friends of Mr. Latham.
lisahollis
Registered
This was in the Bermuda Sun today:
'It was just a tragic accident' Graham Maddocks tells heart-wrenching details of trying to save friend Paul Latham Simon Jones
FRIDAY, JANUARY 25: A diver has described his desperate attempts to save his ‘buddy’ who died after surfacing too quickly.
Graham Maddocks said the death of his good friend, Paul Latham, who was visiting Bermuda from the US, was a ‘tragic accident’.
The pair had been filming footage for a documentary on lionfish in deep water off Tuckers Town on January 13 when disaster struck.
Mr Maddocks told the Bermuda Sun: “We had been down at around 200ft and everything was going well when we started to surface.
“You often launch a lift bag from around 40-50ft as it gives you something to hang from as you surface.
“Paul let his bag off but it got caught on the back of his tank and pulled him to the surface.
“I tried to grab him and pull him back down with me, but he was dragged to the surface.
“Our safety diver sent Paul back down to me to try and continue with the ascent, which is standard practice.
“That is when we could tell he was obviously having trouble breathing.
“I was trying to hold him up as he got heavier and heavier.
“We struggled to get him back to the surface and by that time we had called for the dive boat to bring him in.
“They got Paul back on the boat and tried to do everything they could, but tragically the damage had been done.
“It was just a tragic accident.
Missed
“The work we are doing to tackle the lionfish threat is very serious and very important to the future of Bermuda’s waters.
“Paul believed in our aims and that was why he was with us on this dive.
“He will be greatly missed.”
Mr Latham, a 55-year-old father-of-two from New Hampshire, had more than 30 years experience diving in waters across the world.
His wife, Colleen, previously told the Sun that he lived life to the full and had a passion for the ocean.
While last week Allen Latham told the West Central Tribune that his son, Paul, had dyslexia but had trained his brain to learn differently.
He added: “He had a unique ability to use his brain with more flexibility than most people do.
“It was an advantage to him in his education and work.”
“He loved learning things that were new.”
Mr Latham Senior said his son loved scuba diving because he could “explore that new part of the world that most people aren’t acquainted with.”
His sister, Mary Swanson, added: “He was someone that loved life.
“He was just a very kind and gentle man.”
'It was just a tragic accident' Graham Maddocks tells heart-wrenching details of trying to save friend Paul Latham Simon Jones
FRIDAY, JANUARY 25: A diver has described his desperate attempts to save his ‘buddy’ who died after surfacing too quickly.
Graham Maddocks said the death of his good friend, Paul Latham, who was visiting Bermuda from the US, was a ‘tragic accident’.
The pair had been filming footage for a documentary on lionfish in deep water off Tuckers Town on January 13 when disaster struck.
Mr Maddocks told the Bermuda Sun: “We had been down at around 200ft and everything was going well when we started to surface.
“You often launch a lift bag from around 40-50ft as it gives you something to hang from as you surface.
“Paul let his bag off but it got caught on the back of his tank and pulled him to the surface.
“I tried to grab him and pull him back down with me, but he was dragged to the surface.
“Our safety diver sent Paul back down to me to try and continue with the ascent, which is standard practice.
“That is when we could tell he was obviously having trouble breathing.
“I was trying to hold him up as he got heavier and heavier.
“We struggled to get him back to the surface and by that time we had called for the dive boat to bring him in.
“They got Paul back on the boat and tried to do everything they could, but tragically the damage had been done.
“It was just a tragic accident.
Missed
“The work we are doing to tackle the lionfish threat is very serious and very important to the future of Bermuda’s waters.
“Paul believed in our aims and that was why he was with us on this dive.
“He will be greatly missed.”
Mr Latham, a 55-year-old father-of-two from New Hampshire, had more than 30 years experience diving in waters across the world.
His wife, Colleen, previously told the Sun that he lived life to the full and had a passion for the ocean.
While last week Allen Latham told the West Central Tribune that his son, Paul, had dyslexia but had trained his brain to learn differently.
He added: “He had a unique ability to use his brain with more flexibility than most people do.
“It was an advantage to him in his education and work.”
“He loved learning things that were new.”
Mr Latham Senior said his son loved scuba diving because he could “explore that new part of the world that most people aren’t acquainted with.”
His sister, Mary Swanson, added: “He was someone that loved life.
“He was just a very kind and gentle man.”
clownfishsydney
Contributor
So many things wrong with this dive "plan" that I cannot even start to list them.
Please, try. I would be interested to know what (you think) they are.
Did I read this correctly? The part about the safety diver sending the deceased BACK to depth as it being standard procedure? They were worried about decompression sickness but not a pulmonary embolism?
Dive Bug Bit Me
Contributor
Standard practice for missed deco, if you are able to go back within a minute and are showing no signs of DCS or AGE.
Loose line kills. It was drummed into me by more than one instructor that you do not have loose line when you dive. You only unroll the minimum amount you need (which is an inch or two for shooting SMBs) and you keep it taught at all times.
I doubt it would have made any difference, but once it was apparent he was having trouble breathing, he could have blown off remaining deco and gotten onto O2 while waiting for a trip to the nearest chamber.
tamas970
Contributor
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Eg. this: "You often launch a lift bag from around 40-50ft as it gives you something to hang from as you surface."
Why?? Good bouyancy control does it for you. Both holding steady at the deco stop and fully inflated at the top. If one insist sending up a liftbag, why can't wait until the deco obligation is over?
Anyway, 200ft is a serious dive, I assume/hope deco stops were planned by the book...
And buddy should have had a cutting tool out and at the ready. This should have been nothing more than a "Lost lift bag in Bermuda" thread in the Lost-and-Found sub forum...
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