Bahamas: Missing Female Diver

[cappyjon431]

In his latest post, Onlyhalcyon did say that the DM was "pushed away" by the diver at approximately 100', but this certainly doesn't constitute the struggle between DM and diver that I envisioned earlier.

Still unclear to me whether Mrs. Wood's paid DM/buddy was on air or nitrox. I'm trying to understand if having nitrox was partly responsible for the DM's reluctance to chase to a deeper depth.

 

[ScubaSteve]

In his latest post, Onlyhalcyon did say that the DM was "pushed away" by the diver at approximately 100', but this certainly doesn't constitute the struggle between DM and diver that I envisioned earlier.

I agree that my imagination had filled in the missing information with a James Bond style underwater battle to the death. This seems not only more fitting to an aged woman, but also like there was likely (this coming from a simple diver) a lot more effort thatcould have been put forward to raise the diver. Still having not seen the incident, my brain is left to fill in blanks but it certainly seems as though people were a lot more passive than I had originally thought.

Still unclear to me whether Mrs. Wood's paid DM/buddy was on air or nitrox. I'm trying to understand if having nitrox was partly responsible for the DM's reluctance to chase to a deeper depth.

Even if she was on Nitrox and that was why she surfaced, why would it fall onto the passenger (maybe I misunderstood this part) to explain the situation from a third hand perspective to get somebody to don gear try and save the diver? I am sorry but if you get so emotional that you cannot tell someone that you lost a diver, where and when, then being a DM is not for you. Please tell me this person will never become an instructor. That is like accepting that a fireman could not aim the fire hose because they were too emotional. Unacceptable. IMO, the "after water entry" failure falls squarely onto the shoulders of the entire DM/Crew and the Operator.

 

[cappyjon431]

Even if she was on Nitrox and that was why she surfaced, why would it fall onto the passenger (maybe I misunderstood this part) to explain the situation from a third hand perspective to get somebody to don gear try and save the diver? I am sorry but if you get so emotional that you cannot tell someone that you lost a diver, where and when, then being a DM is not for you. Please tell me this person will never become an instructor. That is like accepting that a fireman could not aim the fire hose because they were too emotional. Unacceptable. IMO, the "after water entry" failure falls squarely onto the shoulders of the entire DM/Crew and the Operator.

Perhaps I misread Onlyhalcyon's last post, but I understood it to say that he was the second one to surface and that when he tried to tell the boat crew of his concerns he was essentially ignored. The post says that it was not until Mrs. Wood's Rent-a-DM surfaced that anybody took any action.

 

[Dwag766]

How intense that must have been! We will all be waiting for the rest of the story.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Perhaps I misread Onlyhalcyon's last post, but I understood it to say that he was the second one to surface and that when he tried to tell the boat crew of his concerns he was essentially ignored. The post says that it was not until Mrs. Wood's Rent-a-DM surfaced that anybody took any action.

From onlyhalcyon's last post

.........The DM told her to go to the front of the boat and came running over to me to ask what had happened. I told him what I had seen and where it had happened........

(and yes that happened after they were essentially ignored by the crew) Following that, then another DM surfaced and they then went down after switching tanks. But it took onlyhalcyon to explain the situation. Very sad indeed.

 

[scubafanatic]

Boy...leave us hanging here at 140 feet...

.....I think we're at the moment where the announcer says: "....and now for a brief commercial break from our sponsors...."

 

[InTheDrink]

.....I think we're at the moment where the announcer says: "....and now for a brief commercial break from our sponsors...."

I'm not sure it's appropriate to trivialise this at this moment in time, not meaning to be harsh.

OnlyHalcyon may have some very useful information to deliver. I wouldn't view it as a popcorn moment, which is how yout comment came across to me.

Like I said, not meaning to be harsh, just I want to make sure we get as full facts as possible.

Thanks,
John

 

[stadevene]

There are some new info in the latest account I'm wondering about. First, an answer to one of the questions.

Relationship between DM and victim

I later found out that she was the DM and her buddy was Mrs Wood.

Things I'm wondering about:

I quickly swam to my wife and passed on the sign, buddy missing, my wife kind of blew me off so ... I located the lead DM and signaled that there was a major problem and a diver was missing I counted the divers becuse I remember on the boat they said that there were 15. The lead DM saw me counting and swam over to calm me down, I kept signing to him that we were a diver missing, all the while he continued to tell me it was not a problem.

After completing the safety stop I was the second diver onto the boat. I dropped my bottle and ran upto the captain and told hime of the problem we had below, he said not to worry it was probably a group doing some thing and not to worry.

About 5 mins after I surfaced the DM came up and I told him what I had seen, he tried to calm me down and tell me that I was over reacting, I had only seen the 3 deep divers and not to worry about it.

For those who are instructor/DM level and any captains here what is the standard protocol when a diver gives you a diver missing signal or comes up saying there is a missing diver? I can see this would be really tough to determine as there sounds like with 4 DMs in the water there were almost 4 distinct groups and the diver flashing you the signals may have just missed a dive group.

A further question is there any protocol if you were in the DM's position and had your diver go missing or as it sounds just diving down without paying attention to your repeated calls? Should you try and get the attention of your fellow DMs to help you out?

I'm also wondering if there should be some "universal" distress signal dive leaders should give or even just some sort of alert mechanism dive operators should work out with their DMs? I'm thinking of something like equipping all your DMs with air horns and if there is an issue to do 3 fast blasts or morse SOS. Any of the pros in the room ever have anything like this setup?

It was only when the DM who was with Mrs Wood came up that things changed very quickly. The DM came out of the water and was very upset on the verge of crying. The DM on the boat tried talking with her but she wasn't able to speak at all.

ScubaSteve mentions the DM should have been able to communicate. There are many cases of people who are in shock who can't communicate. Without benefit of other information, based on the description, it sounds like the DM could have been in shock.

The DM's switched there NITROX bottles for regular bottles and jumped back into the water. After around 15mins the 4th DM who was taking the deep water advanced group surfaced and told me that he went down to 140ft to try and stop Mrs Wood.

It sounds like more than one DM attempted to save her. Whether the 4th DM was at 140 and she was far below him or the 4th DM had her at arms length we don't know.

One of the takeaways for me is the importance of a slate for communicating. I am wondering if there was something on hand where halcyon could have written something like "DM is missing diver, needs help!" or "DM in trouble, diver is below 140ft, needs help!") if the other DMs would have taken him seriously. I should likely add I think halcyon did everything possible and at his disposal to alert the DMs.

 

[hydropunk]

I have a feeling the 'speculation police' will want my head after posting this, but I agree with the possibility of suicide. She fought off the DM at 100 ft... That's how I would do myself in, if I had to. I've heard of many suicidal divers do the same thing. You don't forget what air does to a human beyond 110ft if you've ever been narced. That said, maybe she was just trying to get narced but not commit suicide, and simply went waaaaay too deep, ran out of air, and drowned.

 

[Thalassamania]

The only "evidence" for suicide (so far) is onlyhalcyon's interpretation of what he saw as the deceased pushing the DM away at about 100 feet. The problem with this sort of speculation is it encourages the DM (in the absence of witnesses) to invent a tale of how she struggled with the victim who was hell bent on self destruction. Even if it were true, at this point, without serious collaboration, I'd be hard pressed to believe it. Those who are using this explanation to try and excuse the DM loosing the victim have actually done the DM a grave misservice.