Diver Missing - Aliwal Shoal

[ShoalDiverSA]

My interpretation of data given in the BSAC 2003 report:

16% of all incidents occurred on ascent.
36% of all fatalities involved separation of the buddy pair.
The known maximum depth for most "incident" dives is in the 21-30m range, but the depth at which the incident started is mostly in the 1-20m range, i.e. on ascent.

More food for thought.

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[Zippsy]

Mike / SA - Dang. I didn't realize there were so many bad divers in the rest of the world. We did have the buddy system drilled into us in OW class and it's practiced here except by those that are trained in solo diving (that's a different thread). Occasionally I do have a diver that says something like "I'll go to the bottom of the line and wait for you" but they are quickly told that's not allowed. More rare is the buddy that signals he's ascending and does not need a buddy. Same deal with them; they are escorted all the way.

Neither my OW or my AOW only trained me to be a tourist in need of a guide. I checked my logs last night and dives #9 - 94 were all with only my buddy (AOW wife) although most were off boats with 6 -10 other people (no DM's) in the area. The only "tours" I seem to have done are ones in places like the Maldives, Cayman and Utila and those were done for reasons other than bad training.

Now I lead dives for people who want a DM and my impression is that most, certainly not all, ask for a DM because they like the perceived extra safety or the extra pair of eyes for finding critters.

If anyone needs to check with my OW instructor, PM and I'll give you his name. Again, I guess I just did not realize that I was trained to such high standards so I am happy to recommend him to anyone.

 

[SA-Diver]

Zippsy

Although our dives are led by a DM, they are not really 'tourist' dives at all.
The nature of most of our diving determines the way we dive.
Most of our dive sites are a few kilometers offshore.
Most of our dives are done in slight to heavy current.
Most of our dives are done off RIB's (8-12 divers).

So

We have an RIB with up to 12 divers including a DM.
We do drift dives with the DM carrying a SMB throughout the dive (this allows the skipper of the RIB to follow the dive group as they drift).
It is very difficult if not impossible for a skipper to follow multiple SMB's - therefore we dive in a group with the one SMB.
It is very difficult for the DM to keep everyone together - it is up to each diver and each buddy pair to stay with the group.
IMHO it is not the DM's responsibility to keep track of everyone on his dive - all the divers on the dive are at least OW certified and are responsible for their own dives (my opinion).

What goes wrong

Divers enter the water and descent without their buddies to meet up at the bottom.
Divers enter the water without planning the dive (they end the dive when they reach their gas limit or when the DM ends the dive)
Divers ascend solo when they reach their gas limit.
Divers go all the way to the bottom because they were told it will be 16m (or whatever) maximum on the dive site without even looking at their depth gauge.

The list goes on ....

Not all the divers do this, but I see a few on every dive that we do.
And guess what - not one of these divers can be convinced that they do something wrong.
they believe thay have been taught to dive, After all, they are OW/AOW or whatever certified, what more is there to learn about diving ... ?

I'll stop ranting and raving now. After all, we are leaving for Aliwal Shoal in 2 hours to go diving.

Kobus

 

[Zippsy]

I think I've lost track of what I was arguing . I sure as heck disagree that AOW training is just enough to be a tourist. I think you are saying the same thing too but it seems like you have a few divers that screw up on each dive anyway. I can't say that every diver I dive with is perfect either but that's a long way from branding everyone with only an AOW cert as fairly useless. That's like saying all television preachers are bad because of Jerry Falwell. um wait a sec.... Kobus, have fun diving today and kick some bungler's butt for me.

 

[SA-Diver]

AOW is just five dives better than OW - not much additional experience in my book, but I guess it helps.
The other funny thing is that more than 50% of the divers on our boats are not locals

I am going diving now, will only be back next week.

Kobus

 

[CarolO]

Hi all
I am a South African diver, and have mostly dived at Aliwal with the dive charter 'responsible' for this lost diver. Wanted to clarify a few things I've heard (via my dive instructor whom I spoke to last week about this incident):
His story is as follows:
She and her husband had trouble descending initially, and after a few minutes indicated to the DM that they were going to surface to abort the dive.
Which they both did. The skipper collected them both. They then requested to try and come down again, and the skipper allowed them to go down on the boy line. The DM did not see them coming down and he never was made aware of their return (having been signalled that they were aborting the dive). At the end of the dive, only the husband surfaced and said he didn't know where his buddy (wife) was.
The DM and 2 other divers immediately went down with him to the 'place' he 'thought he'd last seen her at'.
Apparently he showed very little emotion after several attempts to find her and by the next day (before the official searches were over) he flew back home!!!!!!
My dive instructor mentioned that his behaviour was seemed strange to all concerned, including all the skippers who went searching for her.
The dive charter concerned are very professional and always do thorough checks, briefs and repeat procedures, safety measures etc. before ALL dives!!!
I can not accept that this incident was due to any negligence on their part. And infact wonder what on earth the buddy was thinking about surfacing without his wife!! Who apparently was a very professional Advanced diver!!!!

 

[dennisg]

Quite right Carol, we've seen this action before on the Shoal.

Said diver goes missing on Saturday morning, by the Monday specialist Police Search and Rescue divers are instructed to continue underwater searches that had already been called off, after a direct request from the Department of Foreign Affairs via the Brazilian Embassy in Pretoria.

By the Wednesday, the Brazilian embassy phone and demand death certificate (from same Police Search and Rescue Unit) to be issued to allow "grieving husband" to claim substantial insurance policy recently taken out. Embassy is informed that diver is only a 'missing person' if no corpse is recovered and for whom the Supreme Court and Africa time will take anywhere between 2 & 4 years to declare dead and issue said certificate.

Makes you think doesn't it?

The tragedy here, is the amount of unknows that are circulating in suspicious circumstances. If it WAS an insurance scam, it doesn't work if there's no body (not in the short term anyway), and that's a terrible burden for a dive leader to have to bear. If the dive school WAS actually negligent, it's a very difficult one to prove and they'd be likely to get away with it in an African judicial system. In either case, the sadness is the amount of sour taste that is left behind in many peoples mouths...

Death (or the suspicion thereof) in diving is always a sad needless occurance, regardless of the circumstances. What a terrible mess!


regards
Dennis

 

[pt40fathoms]

Hi all
At the end of the dive, only the husband surfaced and said he didn't know where his buddy (wife) was.

Apparently he showed very little emotion after several attempts to find her and by the next day (before the official searches were over) he flew back home!!!!!!
My dive instructor mentioned that his behaviour was seemed strange to all concerned, including all the skippers who went searching for her.

Hmmmm, I smell something very wrong here!

If I were to determine the next course of action, I believe it would be to detain and question the "husband".

 

[ShoalDiverSA]

Hi all
I am a South African diver, and have mostly dived at Aliwal with the dive charter 'responsible' for this lost diver. Wanted to clarify a few things I've heard (via my dive instructor whom I spoke to last week about this incident):

Hi Carol,

Firstly, welcome to the 'Board. Good to have you here.

Thanks for the clarification. I was hearing stories that seemed to point to a possible insurance scam. However it was proving too difficult to substantiate the stories, so I resisted the urge to post updates.

Thanks for letting us know what is happening "from the horse's mouth".

I must add that I don't see the charter as being responsible in this case. There would have to substantial proof of negligence on their behalf to make me change the high regard I hold them in. Their safety records have been exemplary to date.

I fear, as Mike earlier stated, that we will never know the real story.

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[csh]

Zippsy

Although our dives are led by a DM, they are not really 'tourist' dives at all.
The nature of most of our diving determines the way we dive.
Most of our dive sites are a few kilometers offshore.
Most of our dives are done in slight to heavy current.
Most of our dives are done off RIB's (8-12 divers).

So

We have an RIB with up to 12 divers including a DM.
We do drift dives with the DM carrying a SMB throughout the dive (this allows the skipper of the RIB to follow the dive group as they drift).
It is very difficult if not impossible for a skipper to follow multiple SMB's - therefore we dive in a group with the one SMB.
It is very difficult for the DM to keep everyone together - it is up to each diver and each buddy pair to stay with the group.
IMHO it is not the DM's responsibility to keep track of everyone on his dive - all the divers on the dive are at least OW certified and are responsible for their own dives (my opinion).

What goes wrong

Divers enter the water and descent without their buddies to meet up at the bottom.
Divers enter the water without planning the dive (they end the dive when they reach their gas limit or when the DM ends the dive)
Divers ascend solo when they reach their gas limit.
Divers go all the way to the bottom because they were told it will be 16m (or whatever) maximum on the dive site without even looking at their depth gauge.

The list goes on ....

Not all the divers do this, but I see a few on every dive that we do.
And guess what - not one of these divers can be convinced that they do something wrong.
they believe thay have been taught to dive, After all, they are OW/AOW or whatever certified, what more is there to learn about diving ... ?

I'll stop ranting and raving now. After all, we are leaving for Aliwal Shoal in 2 hours to go diving.

Kobus

I have an advanced open water certificate,and have done about 50 dives,however i've never had a "testing" situation ,so i don"t believe that i can justify the advanced title.However the dive company's are well aware of this type of situation,as are other readers.The dive company advertises that the OWC,etc are all that are needed,they are far more aware of the local diving conditions than tourists ,and 8-12 divers with one DM-obviously he handle that many.How much extra would it cost/diver for another DM?