Diver fatality in HI yesterday?

[shoeshoe]

I'm looking for information about a diver that may have died yesterday while diving in Hawaii. I do not know him, but I am looking for the information for people that do know him. I dont have any more information about an alleged incident. Thank you.

-Shoe

 

[Helpmespock]

I work with him but can't say we were close. Apparently he was relatively experienced and I am told he was diving with his family, for some reason he breathed his gas off quite quickly and surfaced early, alone, he was found dead at the surface. I suspect an AGE or perhaps an MI at depth, I do not know what his cardio hx was, he was a little heavy for his height, and I believe in his late 40's.

 

[rlynch]

where in HI?

 

[divengolf]

I assume it's Hawaii. HI is the standard abb. for that state.

 

[BUGBAGGER]

A diver apparently died at Makena Landing here on Maui on Monday night. It sounds as though the man was diving with his son. Had some trouble. Came up sputtering byt the time his son (and possibly others) brought him to shore and started CPR things were not looking good from reports. I don't know if this was the incident but we will likely not get much more info. It is rare that we get this much info in our local news. See Maui News, click on local news and all for the brief story.

Sadly a visiting snorkeler also died. She was in her sixties, from reports, and could not be revived after being found unresponsive in the water of Honolua Bay.

Our waves, shorelines, environment here is deceptive. When a wave hits a mountain that jumps up from the sea floor it behaves a lot differently than a wave moving in over an underwater shelf. In addition to these two losses water safety personel have been reported to have responded to numerous calls for rescue and resuscitation over the last few days. We have only had a moderate south swell and fairly typical afternoon trades but these conditions which we learn to be wary of here look like good to average conditions elsewhere when you are not familiar with them.

This is no comfort to these familes but perhaps a somber reminder to others to repect the force of nature here.

 

[Dive-aholic]

I work with him but can't say we were close. Apparently he was relatively experienced and I am told he was diving with his family, for some reason he breathed his gas off quite quickly and surfaced early, alone, he was found dead at the surface. I suspect an AGE or perhaps an MI at depth, I do not know what his cardio hx was, he was a little heavy for his height, and I believe in his late 40's.

This diver and the one from Makena Landing are not the same. The Makena Landing diver was 65 and his name was James Harstad.

San Francisco man, 65, dies after diving off Makena - Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor's Information - The Maui News

A 65-year-old San Francisco man died after he was found in distress while diving at Makena landing Monday night, police said.
He was identified as James Harstad.
He had been night diving with his son before police were called at 8:30 p.m., said Lt. Jayson Rego of the Criminal Investigation Division.
Harstad had surfaced and was seen gasping for air before being brought to shore by his son, he said.
Harstad was taken by ambulance to Maui Memorial Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 9:20 p.m.
An autopsy is pending.

It appears James may have either had a heart attack, or if what BUGBAGGER states happened, had an unexpected ascent resulting in an AGE.

Helpmespock, Mike was in Kauai according to his facebook profile. He posted some photos of him and his family as July 26. The first post on his wall that indicates he passed was on Aug 2. I've googled Kauai scuba diving death and Kauai news but can't find anything in the news reports. I have some messages out to people in Arizona who might be able to get some information.

 

[Helpmespock]

It looks like Rob has found info that Dr Decker died of a massive MI. He was pretty young, and was a real nice guy. Sad.