November 2, 2011 Florida Keys Diver Death

[diversdaughter]

DandyDon...we are most definitely pursuing this with his physician who performed a complete physical on him not 2 months before.

As for the burning question, how did he just get away and did he signal for help, an excerpt of the Sheriff's investigation report is below (all names have been removed except my fathers):


On Wednesday, November, 2, 2011, at approximately 3:00 P.M., I responded to the Port Largo Homeowners Park which is located at the end of Marina Avenue, Key Largo, Florida, 33037, in reference to a Diving Accident. Upon arrival, Rescue 23 was on scene. A short while later the Coast Guard escorted the dive boat to the staging area located in the homeowners park. When the boat arrived, the rescue personal entered the boat and began their treatment.

I spoke with the (Dive Master). In a sworn written statement, he said that the diver (victim Thomas G Baker) surfaced a distance behind the boat shortly after he begun his dive. Baker waved his arms to signal that he needed help, using the signal to be assisted but not the emergency distress signal. (The Dive Master) immediately dispatched a rescue swimmer with a line. Baker was drifting steadily away from the boat. At this point, a second volunteer swimmer headed out to assist. Upon reaching Baker and securing him to the line he was assisted/pulled back to the boat. When they arrived back at the boat, Baker was unconscious
and unresponsive. (Dive Master) does not know at what point this happened. Baker was lifted on the boat and CPR/Rescue Breathing was started. This continued until they reached Port Largo Homeowners Park where EMS took over. At no time was there any sign of coconsciousness (sic) or circulation.

I then met with (Baker's Friend - dive buddy). In a sworn written statement, (friend) said that Tom Baker went into the water before him. Baker swam on the surface holding a horizontal line attached to the boat at one end a small float at the other. (Friend) then entered the water and swam to the same line. When he got to the end Baker was not there. (Friend) swam to the mooring buoy and descended on the line approximately 15-20 feet down. (Friend) did not see Baker. (Friend) held the line for about a minute, he then surfaced. The dive master instructed him to get in the boat as Baker was on the surface and a good distance from them. Two diver's retrieved Baker and were pulled to the boat by a line.

I then met with (Dive master in training). (DMIT) said, in a sworn written statement, that the diver (Baker) signaled for assistance. (DMIT) entered the water and swam with the rescue buoy out to the diver. Upon reaching him, he asked him if he was ok? The diver told him he was tired and could not swim against the current. (DMIT) asked him to keep his regulator in place, turn around, and inflate his BCD. The diver complied. (DMIT) asked him to lay back and look up. (DMIT) towed him from the tank valve and looking back to check on him periodically. The diver seemed okay and periodically remove his regulator to yell he was too tired to kick or swim. As they approached the bay watch float the second rescue diver approached to assist. They towed the diver back to the boat being pulled from the boat, the entire length of the rescue line. They removed the dive gear promptly and began rescue breathing, CPR and Oxygen.

 

[diverrex]

Thank you Jennifer ~ diversdaughter for your willingness to provide us with information in this difficult time. Many divers try to learn from dive accidents and it is often difficult to find out information after an accident. I’m sorry for your loss.

I was on a dive boat in the Channel Islands off Ventura, California in September 2011 when a 63 year old diver died of a massive coronary. In that instance the diver completed the dive and upon surfacing found that the current had picked up considerably since the start of the dive. He surfaced a distance away from the boat and was pulling himself back to the boat along the current line that the crew had deployed. It was reported that about 10 feet from the swim step his body was observed to go limp. The crew immediately jumped in, pulled him to the swim step, hoisted him to the boat and performed CPR for 45 minutes before a rescue helicopter came and carried him off the boat to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. I was the first diver to the swim step after he had been pulled in. When I first noticed him lying on the swim step I just assumed that he was exhausted from the current. I quickly realized something was terribly wrong as I saw the crew hoisting him up to the boat. I had fortunately surfaced near the boat but immediately recognized that the current was too strong to swim directly to the boat and I swam a short distance to the current line and pulled myself in. Other divers after me needed the crew to help them to the boat.

While the seas are often calm it isn’t unusual in certain areas to have strong current and the characterization of just easily bobbing on the surface in a BC is not true in those cases. Of all the risks in scuba diving current is the one that concerns me the most. The other risks I usually have some control over but strong current controls you.

It is not unusual when you hear of a scuba diving death to eventually find out it was a male over 50 and it was a heart problem of some kind that was the cause of death. As the scuba diver population continues to age I suspect this will still be a problem regardless of medical clearances or not. It is a reminder to all of us scuba divers to remain physically fit.

 

[tyut2]

Thanks very much for the information on this Diversdaughter. I am a DMIT myself and the info provided is a great deal of help. From my training it looks like all of the proper things were done here and all of the people involved acting accordingly. This accident will help me and my dive buddy (also a DMIT) in our training. I am very sorry for your loss. Take care.