Diver missing today? 03/28/12

[kschoonover]

I personally don't blame the DM or anyone for what happened, I just want her to be found.

 

[AggieDiver]

I can easily see how you could be separated under those circumstances. If the DM was near the front of the group and this pair were at the back, he would have to catch up to the DM, get his msg across, then turn and try to find where she had ascended. If she ascended and got caught by a current going a different direction or had some subsequent problem, it would be easy for him to have lost her in the time it took to find the DM. I am sure the weird currents they have been having have not made the search any easier, since they can't just assume she has to be north of where she started like they would in most Coz SAR efforts.

Kschoonover, please hang in there! Your mom is in our thoughts and prayers and I hope they find her safe and sound. As others have said, thanks for coming here and posting what details you do know. We do analyze incidents here on scubaboard so that we can be safer divers ourselves in the future, so please do let us know if you are able to find out anything more.

 

[kschoonover]

Agree. If she was suffering a medical problem, for example.

I wonder if she was on blood pressure medication?

She wasn't on blood pressure medicine but she does have a small problem with the valve of her heart leaking blood and sometimes it can cause her to get tired easier. I'm not sure if my step dad knew exactly why she needed to go up.

 

[Scott]

She wasn't on blood pressure medicine but she does have a small problem with the valve of her heart leaking blood and sometimes it can cause her to get tired easier. I'm not sure if my step dad knew exactly why she needed to go up.

Do you know how long she has been a diver and if the condition was present before she was certified?

For you medical professionals, could this be something like valvular regurgitation?

 

[rkfatheree]

More information I received today - cannot verify its accuracy, as it comes to me via an acquaintance who heard it from his friend who works for the dive operation. (Keep that in mind, as some important details differ from other stories.)

The diver was a certified diver with 9 dives under her belt and her husband, also certified, had 5. About ten minutes into the dive, she signaled to her husband that she was having a problem with her ears and he told her to surface. He did not go with her. They did not notify the DM at that time (??) When they gathered to ascend as a group at the end of the dive, during the safety stop the DM asked the husband where his wife was, and he indicated she had already gone up. When they all got on board, the husband asked the captain where his wife was. That's when they realized they had a missing diver.

I was completely wrong to assume that the missing diver was a "Discover SCUBA" diver. Mea culpa.

IF this story is true, then the husband obviously should not have told his wife to go up OR he should have notified the DM that they were both going up OR worst case, he should have at least gone with her.

This is heartbreaking. But it also shows that when you're a new diver, you don't necessarily know what you don't know. I've learned a lot from the mistakes I've made. Luckily, I survived some of my more egregious errors to become a better diver. (Still lots of mistakes ahead of me, I'm sure.) Something like a changing current or downdraft can make the difference between telling a horror story later and not getting the chance.

Sounds like if anybody has a fighting chance, it's this particular diver. Hoping for a miracle.

 

[kschoonover]

Do you know how long she has been a diver and if the condition was present before she was certified?

For you medical professionals, could this be something like valvular regurgitation?

I'm not sure how much diving she's done but I know she did have the problem before she ever got certified.

 

[robint]

More information I received today - cannot verify its accuracy, as it comes to me via an acquaintance who heard it from his friend who works for the dive operation. (Keep that in mind, as some important details differ from other stories.)

The diver was a certified diver with 9 dives under her belt and her husband, also certified, had 5. About ten minutes into the dive, she signaled to her husband that she was having a problem with her ears and he told her to surface. He did not go with her. They did not notify the DM at that time (??) When they gathered to ascend as a group at the end of the dive, during the safety stop the DM asked the husband where his wife was, and he indicated she had already gone up. When they all got on board, the husband asked the captain where his wife was. That's when they realized they had a missing diver.

I was completely wrong to assume that the missing diver was a "Discover SCUBA" diver. Mea culpa.

IF this story is true, then the husband obviously should not have told his wife to go up OR he should have notified the DM that they were both going up OR worst case, he should have at least gone with her.

This is heartbreaking. But it also shows that when you're a new diver, you don't necessarily know what you don't know. I've learned a lot from the mistakes I've made. Luckily, I survived some of my more egregious errors to become a better diver. (Still lots of mistakes ahead of me, I'm sure.) Something like a changing current or downdraft can make the difference between telling a horror story later and not getting the chance.

Sounds like if anybody has a fighting chance, it's this particular diver. Hoping for a miracle.

Now we have a 4th account of what happened.
This one, like the first 2, says the dive buddy-husband did not go up with her, but at the end of dive with the rest of group.

 

[boulderjohn]

More information I received today - cannot verify its accuracy, as it comes to me via an acquaintance who heard it from his friend who works for the dive operation. (Keep that in mind, as some important details differ from other stories.)

This version is extremely different from the one we are getting from a family member. A wise thing to do now would be avoid any hasty comments.

 

[Gdog]

This version is extremely different from the one we are getting from a family member. A wise thing to do now would be avoid any hasty comments.

I completely agree.

 

[rkfatheree]

This version is extremely different from the one we are getting from a family member. A wise thing to do now would be avoid any hasty comments.

Yes. That's why I noted my source.

I think all of us know that something similar could happen to us or someone we love, so we're trying to find out what went wrong. As I said before, yesterday afternoon, for the first time on this trip, our DM made sure everyone had a BSM - something that might have helped the missing diver or at least could help other divers avoid the same situation.