Brigitte Lenoir dies in Dahab

[watch_the_bubbles]

I agree with Red Sea Shadow above.

That was my very first thought as well. Fine, accident/technical problem happened, but why was the body left to drown and not brought up?

It makes the grievance process harder and also a technical analysis impossible.

I hope there is some investigation into the matter rather than accepting someone's word that "this is what happened."

The diving industry is self-regulating to an extent, so it is important.

 

[Crowley]

This is more for other readers than those involved - I have second hand info from some of my tech-diving friends but at the moment nobody knows for sure what happened.

Hyperoxic toxicity at that depth would be fatal in seconds. It is likely that none of the support team could have helped her. It is entirely possibly that they didn't even notice until it was too late.

During her last dive, there were support divers scattered on the rope between 160m and 70m.

The French report above states that support divers were spread from 70m to the surface, with ropes and tanks to 160, not divers. In that case, nobody could have helped her since she was 70-80 metres below the next deepest diver. I have also read one report which suggests she died during descent, not ascent, in which case she may have been negative and sinking too fast to provide assistance.

Bubbles - I am sure you know the area - outside the Blue Hole is not exactly shallow water. The other members of the team may not have had the resources to recover the body. If the support divers were equipped to dive to 70 metres and she was at 147, then there was no chance of a support diver reaching her in time to do anything apart from kill themselves in the attempt. It may sound harsh but with this type of diving, standard practice is to leave a dead diver behind to prevent further fatalties.

The body may well never be recovered without the use of an ROV - at the depths we are talking about, human intervention may well be impossible; there are very few people in the world who can or would even dive to those depths, and as we have seen before, deep recovery attempts have proven fatal themselves.

A tragic accident, for sure, but the risks of diving that deep with any kind of equipment are very high, and she would have accepted those before attempting.

C.

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

This is more for other readers than those involved - I have second hand info from some of my tech-diving friends but at the moment nobody knows for sure what happened.

Hyperoxic toxicity at that depth would be fatal in seconds. It is likely that none of the support team could have helped her. It is entirely possibly that they didn't even notice until it was too late.

The French report above states that support divers were spread from 70m to the surface, with ropes and tanks to 160, not divers. In that case, nobody could have helped her since she was 70-80 metres below the next deepest diver. I have also read one report which suggests she died during descent, not ascent, in which case she may have been negative and sinking too fast to provide assistance.

Bubbles - I am sure you know the area - outside the Blue Hole is not exactly shallow water. The other members of the team may not have had the resources to recover the body. If the support divers were equipped to dive to 70 metres and she was at 147, then there was no chance of a support diver reaching her in time to do anything apart from kill themselves in the attempt. It may sound harsh but with this type of diving, standard practice is to leave a dead diver behind to prevent further fatalties.

The body may well never be recovered without the use of an ROV - at the depths we are talking about, human intervention may well be impossible; there are very few people in the world who can or would even dive to those depths, and as we have seen before, deep recovery attempts have proven fatal themselves.

A tragic accident, for sure, but the risks of diving that deep with any kind of equipment are very high, and she would have accepted those before attempting.

C.

I've translated the French report as is. However, I have to say it's a bit strange for me.

Why would 10 support divers spread in 70-meters range? And it's the shallow range! Where were the deep support divers?

Most importantly, if all the divers were at 70 meters, how did they know she passed away at exactly 147 meters? Why not 150 or 180 or 200?

As we all know, speculations are not good when it comes to accidents. That's why I directed my question about retrieving the body to the only person here I know was close to her.

 

[DandyDon]

I've translated the French report as is. However, I have to say it's a bit strange for me.

Why would 10 support divers spread in 70-meters range? And it's the shallow range! Where were the deep support divers?

I don't know enough about diving that deep to speculate on her plan, but it was her plan.

Most importantly, if all the divers were at 70 meters, how did they know she passed away at exactly 147 meters? Why not 150 or 180 or 200?

As we all know, speculations are not good when it comes to accidents. That's why I directed my question about retrieving the body to the only person here I know was close to her.

147 is an odd number for an estimate from above. Sounds like they had more info that has been made available so far. Even before translation, it does say 147. I don't guess a feet meters confusion would be likely, but I tried the numbers - nothing obvious.

Oddly, when I let Google translate the original page, it says th accident was on descent.

"The accident was due to a technical problem during the descent in deep water," said Magaly Mavilia to ATS, a close relative of the victim. The body was not recovered, "she added. It confirmed information Rhône FM.

Can someone fluent in the language clarify that, please?

Here is a statement from her own site deep230.ch with a Google translation that may not be accurate...

Friday, May 14, Brigitte Lenoir died during a dive preparation for its world record for deep diving in Dahab in Egypt. This immersion, she was planning for almost a year. Its preparation was both technically and physically and psychologically. She had every chance to put his side to leave nothing to chance.

On 10 April in Geneva, supported by more than 30 people, it had reached 154 meters in a dive training. In Dahab, where she was last Sunday, it had an infrastructure and a team-performing technical dives to the most extreme in the 200 meters.

But fate has struck. According to information available to us, it seems that, during its ascent from 200 meters, the injection of oxygen into the rebreather loop remained stuck open. At 147 meters, following a massive injection of O2, it is a crisis hyperoxic and immediately lost consciousness. The pairs have attempted to intervene, but it was too late. She could not go back on his blocks. His body has not been surfaced.

There is news coming to us and we crucified him on the spot. So many dives shared with a friend out of the ordinary, so many unforgettable moments, smiles and sometimes heated discussions ...

Our thoughts at this moment of pain go to Dylan and Andrew, his parents Yvette and Johnny, his sister and two brothers. Carried away by your passion for deep, you'll be missed terribly. Bri, your memory lives forever in our hearts.

All your messages of condolence will be published in the Guestbook / Guest Book Site.

A religious ceremony will take place Wednesday, May 19 at 10:00 at the Catholic church Monthey (VS).

 

[riftvalley84]

Sad for sure. I just don't get the allure of trying to break records - especially when they involve hanging onto a line just to see if you can break a depth record! Seems a senseless way to die. I don't know if the boy in the video of her April dive is her son but how sad to lose your mother just because she was trying to break a record!

 

[DandyDon]

Sad for sure. I just don't get the allure of trying to break records - especially when they involve hanging onto a line just to see if you can break a depth record! Seems a senseless way to die. I don't know if the boy in the video of her April dive is her son but how sad to lose your mother just because she was trying to break a record!

Ask yourself where we would be without pioneers.

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

Oddly, when I let Google translate the original page, it says th accident was on descent.

Can someone fluent in the language clarify that, please?

There are two statements in the original page:

The first is:
«L'accident est lié à un problème technique lors de la descente en eau profonde», a indiqué à l'ATS Magaly Mavilia, une proche parente de la victime. Le corps n'a pas été retrouvé, a-t-elle ajouté. Elle confirmait une information de Rhône FM.

This one was in the introductory part of the report, which is usually a general overview of what happened without going into details. It says that the accident happened due to a technical problem during descent in deep water. It adds that the body was not retrieved.

The second is:
L'accident est survenu à -147 mètres, lors de la remontée de Brigitte Lenoir après une plongée à 200 mètres, a expliqué M. Morier. La Valaisanne se trouvait alors en compagnie de Pascal Barnabé, le recordman du monde de plongée profonde, qui n'a rien pu faire pour la sauver.

That one was in the body of the report, which is usually a detailed description of what happened. It says that the accident took place at 147 meters during the ascent of Brigitte Lenoir after a dive to 200 meters. It adds that she (the victim) was accompanied by Pascal Barnabé, the world record holder of deep diving, who was not able to do anything to save her.

 

[UV]

The French report above states that support divers were spread from 70m to the surface, with ropes and tanks to 160, not divers. In that case, nobody could have helped her since she was 70-80 metres below the next deepest diver.

It's states the support divers were placed at these depths, not confined to them. Also, I heard she was accompanied at depths below this by more than 1 diver.

If the support divers were equipped to dive to 70 metres and she was at 147, then there was no chance of a support diver reaching her in time to do anything apart from kill themselves in the attempt. It may sound harsh but with this type of diving, standard practice is to leave a dead diver behind to prevent further fatalties.

Again, accompanied at depth. W/o knowing first hand, you can do nothing but speculate. Diver convulsing, possibly loosing the mouthpiece, flooding the rebreather causing the diver to become negativly bouyant. Imagine yourself trying to handle a convulsing sinking diver at -147m. Hard to say excatly what happend, but you can imagine the difficulties the buddie(s) could have faced.

 

[drbill]

Of course this is sad news and my condolences to her family and friends. These are risks I would never even consider taking.

 

[watch_the_bubbles]

There was definitely someone there with her, including Pascale. As mentioned the oxygen can kill within seconds at that partial pressure. Even if someone got her bailout gas to her mouth, the time it takes could be enough to kill. My main curiousity is why the body was lost, more than why/how she had problems.
wanna know what I heard? When asked, Pascale said, " I thought she was attached to the line..."