Looking for info on Seattle/Alki Cove 2 diver

[jodomonk]

Hello everyone,

My dive buddy and I, along with two other divers, pulled a man out of Seacrest Park Cove 2 today. He was in about 35 feet of water or so and did not have his regulator in his mouth. Our best guess is that he was down 3-5 minutes. He had surfaced, screamed for help (meanwhile my buddy and I were beginning ascent from our dive), and then gone back under. When we came up, his fiance was yelling from the shore about a diver being under us. My partner went down for about 2 minutes (I only had 450 psi left and could not risk going back down, he had 1100) and when he came back up, he had the guy in tow, frothing from the mouth and not breathing. His tank was empty so we had to manually inflate his BCD as we towed him in. When we got him to shore, paramedics had just arrived on site and began chest compressions along with that squeezy thing they put over your mouth. Eventually they hooked up some kind of machine to his chest as well as an I.V. I heard his fiance mention something about him being prone to panic attacks. 10-15 minutes later he was loaded onto an ambulance and they took off for Harborview Medical Center(he was still unconscious or not alive).

My guess is that he did not make it, but I am no medical expert and have been searching for information all day long, hoping for the best. If anyone finds out what the outcome was, please post. I would be very grateful.

The only article I have found thus far is here.

 

[Kayla]

I would just keep your eye on the news sources around here... they usually do a pretty good job of picking that sort of thing up right away.

Kudos to you guys for helping out.... thats a tough spot to be in.

 

[jodomonk]

I would just keep your eye on the news sources around here... they usually do a pretty good job of picking that sort of thing up right away.

Kudos to you guys for helping out.... thats a tough spot to be in.

Thanks; I've been searching and searching but it seems no info has been released yet. I have been watching the NW Dive Club topic closely as well. I figure info should come up relatively quickly there. Unfortunately can't post because I am not a member and they have some longer approval process for new accounts. Anyways, the link to that thread is here for anyone who wants to watch that as well.

By the way, I forgot to mention he was a solo diver....

 

[lamont]

Hello everyone,

My dive buddy and I, along with two other divers, pulled a man out of Seacrest Park Cove 2 today. He was in about 35 feet of water or so and did not have his regulator in his mouth. Our best guess is that he was down 3-5 minutes. He had surfaced, screamed for help (meanwhile my buddy and I were beginning ascent from our dive), and then gone back under. When we came up, his fiance was yelling from the shore about a diver being under us. My partner went down for about 2 minutes (I only had 450 psi left and could not risk going back down, he had 1100) and when he came back up, he had the guy in tow, frothing from the mouth and not breathing. His tank was empty so we had to manually inflate his BCD as we towed him in. When we got him to shore, paramedics had just arrived on site and began chest compressions along with that squeezy thing they put over your mouth. Eventually they hooked up some kind of machine to his chest as well as an I.V. I heard his fiance mention something about him being prone to panic attacks. 10-15 minutes later he was loaded onto an ambulance and they took off for Harborview Medical Center(he was still unconscious or not alive).

My guess is that he did not make it, but I am no medical expert and have been searching for information all day long, hoping for the best. If anyone finds out what the outcome was, please post. I would be very grateful.

The only article I have found thus far is here.

Its sounds like he ran out of gas and either drowned or embolized. Neither of those have particularly good survival rates and drowning is the best case.

It often takes the local news 24 hours or so to followup with the outcome and details are usually not forthcoming so you'll probably not get all the answers. Its very infrequent for the local news to publish the results of the medical examination.

It sounds like you gave him the best chance that you could though -- but he was dead when your buddy found him on the bottom and that usually doesn't end well no matter what you do.

 

[Kayla]

Before they can release details of any sort, there is a process, so it takes time... which, it rightly should... the family needs to be notified before the press gets their hands on it.. just my 0.02.

 

[TSandM]

Oh, bless the two of you for trying to help.

If he had any chance, it's because you were there. WHY do people dive alone?

 

[Gdog]

Yes, I hope you understand that what TS &M said is true....if there were any chance at all for him, you two provided it to him. Thank you for that.....no matter the outcome.

 

[PaulSmithTek]

God bless the both of you for your generousity and help. It is a sad thing to hear.

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

Wow, I would never want to be in those shoes. Whatever the outcome, you did a great thing.

 

[wsb]

Hi - we are a 24/7 news site in West Seattle and covered this tragic incident here:
West Seattle Blog… » Update: Diver rushed to hospital after rescue near Seacrest
The citywide news sources often drop stories after the initial report but we will be keeping watch on this since it happened in our coverage area. The Fire Department updated its media line shortly after the incident this afternoon but has not updated it since (we just checked); if anyone knows the diver's name, they could call Harborview Medical Center to try to get a condition update, but without a name, that's impossible. We will post an update on our site when more information does become publicly available. Meantime, sorry for the intrusion, back to lurking.