Has anybody heard what happened to the inspiration diver.....

[madmole]

But just found a reference that Tomas Rosenfeldts Inpsiration has been found sitting in his garage
http://www.diveoz.com.au/discussion_forums/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=3626

Yet more twists in the tale!!!!

As usual, we just dont know. I have still got no idea if this is an Inspiration fatality or not

Stephen

 

[fins wake]

... it's an off-hand comment in a thread re. another fatality, so the scope for misunderstandings and rumours exist. Only the writer of that particular post can explain what he meant or whom or what his sources were. That said, of course, I agree entirely with Madmole that there are - to this very day - many unexplained things concerning the sad death of Mr Rosenfeldt and still much data missing, although there have been promises of setting the record straight.

Incidentally, I've been following the Philippines case on another (Dräger) list, where it has really blown up over the last couple of days. At first sight, and having read the instructor's/"group leader's" initial explanation (they appear all to have been on solo dives) it would appear that there is some considerable explanation to do from this person. An OW diver let loose on decompression diving on the Dolphin, with no training in either area? Solo at that?

The letter of complaint written by the widow of the victim was the best one of its kind I've ever seen, it was dignified, measured and spoke with the calm fury of the truly slighted. I hope the widow and her children get justice.

I trust they will. I have faith in Joe Dituri and Tom Mount to sort this one out.

 

[caveseeker7]

fins wake once bubbled...
... it's an off-hand comment in a thread re. another fatality, so the scope for misunderstandings and rumours exist. Only the writer of that particular post can explain what he meant or whom or what his sources were.

I asked Steve over at Dive-Oz about it. Here his answer:

Steve from downunder once bubbled...

please confirm "fins wake's" thoughts that it was an off hand comment and
that my intent was to highlight the rumormongering that sadly follows
rebreather deaths.

 

[ilmar]

I am the Ilmar that "FLL Diver"'s post on 3/22/03 referred to. I can say that as Tomas Rosenfeldt's step brother and exector of his estate, he definately died on February 6th, 2003 using a Buddy Inspiration Rebreather. He dove alone off the coast of Kona Hawaii from the Kona Agressor and never returned. There was a police report and a four day search and rescue attempt. I have the police report, fire department report and death certificate to prove it and can make images of them available to anyone interested. I can be reached at iis@saar.org.

Ilmar Saar

P.S. Here is a very nice memorial page in his memory produced by his co-workers and friends: http://www.thescratchpost.com/features/march03/features1.shtml

 

[madmole]

Thank you Ilmar for the clarification

I think I speak for all on this forum when I say "our deepest sympathies to you and your family"

Please forgive our questioning and doubts in this case. Its just that there is so much negative missinformation put out about the Inspiration we have become very scepticle.

On an aside the Inspiration community would be very grateful if there is any more technical detail available about the dive that would enable us to determine likely cause and hence maybe avoid another accurrence

Thanks for your input

Stephen (Mole)

 

[ilmar]

I have no idea what really happened to him as his body was never recovered. We acquired the death certificate so quickly (in the case of a missing body) only based on the circumstantial evidence and VERY EXPENSIVE lawyers. Never trust a lawyer when he says it should be a simple case costing only $500. What he really means it that he has no idea how much it will really cost. In this case it cost over $7000 but partly because the Kona Aggressor was uncooperative at every turn. The Aggressor would offer no official statement and asked all the divers on board to do the same (or at least that is how they acted). Any request for information was simply referred to their lawyers who only stonewalled us.

The only thing I know for sure is that he dove from the Kona Aggressor in an area know as Paradise Pinnacles. He went alone as he was the only diver with a Buddy Inspiration Rebreather. We do not know what other equipment he had with him and apparently the Kona Aggressor doesn’t either. It is unknown exactly what happened as his body nor was any equipment ever recovered. He just vanished!

I noticed that someone said they looked to see if any reports were filed with PADI. I had an incident myself just a few weeks prior to my stepbrother’s and am wondering if the dive company really did report it. I would be VERY MAD if they didn’t as they were completely negligent. The dive company was “Pro Dive” in Arlie Beach, Queensland, Australia. The incident happened some time around the middle of January 2003. I was diving with a buddy and we surfaced because I was running low on air (I’m a heavy breather at times). A stupid little mistake happened on the surface when a wave crashed over me and I took in some water through my snorkel into my lungs. It all happened so fast that I didn’t even know what happened, all I knew is that I couldn’t breathe yet did not have a cough reflex. It felt as though someone put a vise around my lungs and the BC really didn’t help in the matter but was not over-inflated. The dive boat was only 150 yards away and we signaled to be picked up… no response. We both deployed our emergency sausages and nothing! It seemed like eternity had passed (at least 15 minutes for real) before a competing dive boat passing through the area saw that we were in trouble and came to the rescue. So much time had passed that by the time I got out of the water that I was in pretty bad shape. Our dive boat was in clear view of us and yet even failed to see the rescue. They only came to attention once the other boat approached them to deliver me. NO ONE WAS ON WATCH! I don’t think they weren’t expecting anyone back so soon, HOW NEGLIGENT CAN YOU GET?!

They had me fill out an incident report yet wonder if they really ever filed it with PADI as it made them look really bad. Is there any way to find out online? At times I wonder if anything like this could have happened to Tomas!

Ilmar