Raja Ampat diver death

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I work as instructor in Komodo, here we frequently have both up and down currents, especially around full and new moon when the tidal height differences are greater. Note that not all the sites are prone to those kind of currents here but we do have several famous sites like Batu Bolong, Castle Rock, Crystal Rock etc that have those, occasionally they are not even suitable for the most experienced divers. It is obviously important to dive sites prone to strong currents with a dive guide & dive operator that are not only experienced in general, but know those particular dive sites very well. They would know the best dates and times to dive there to avoid risk of their divers ending up in a situation that is unmanageable. Another side note is that tidal charts are not always trustable, I have worked in several areas before where the charts were spot on, but in som places like Komodo the sites changes at different times of the day and around full moon and new moon they sometimes go completely out the window, you need local knowledge to be able to assess when high/low slack will be.

From my experience the strength of the down/up currents are not constant but come in "pulses" i.e. they are stronger for a couple of minutes, then less strong for a few minutes and so on. If you find yourself in a strong down/up then it might help to stop and find somewhere to hold on and wait so see if it slows down so that you can use that window to move in the direction you want to go (usually ascending along the reef). Look at the moving parts of the reef (fish, soft corals etc) to see how they move ahead of you. You might see the smaller fish come out of the reef when the current is less strong, that is your cue to keep going.
Many diver here keep talking about reef hooks or even pointers to get out of an extreme downward current ... I do not think it would really help. As you said after waiting a few minutes, the current strength should be less and allow for lateral movement.
What is your opinion about reef hooks to handle extreme downward currents ?
 
Here’s a more detail news about the accident;

I can’t Google Translate the text for some reason. So, I’m going to roughly translate it to English some points that haven’t been mentioned in the earlier news:
- The accident happened on Wednesday (Nov 29) at 08:37 Indonesia Eastern Time (IET).
- Damai 2 divers consisted of 10 guests, 3 DMs, 1 CD.
- At 08:15 IET they (9 guests, 3 DMs, 1 CD) went to North Kawe with 2 dive tenders (tender 1 & 2).
- At 08:20 IET they arrived at the dive site and entered the water together.
- A few minutes later 7 guests & CD were back to the surface and picked up by tender 1.
- Tender 2 driver saw 1 guest (Steve) on the surface unconscious at 08:37 IET.
- The crew brought Steve back on tender, conducted CPR and radioed Damai 2 to prepare Oxygen tank.
- At 08:42 IET, tenders arrived at Damai 2 and brought Steve to the mother boat to continue the CPR for few more minutes. No pulse detected.
- They (witnessed and verified by 3 guests, Captain and CD) concluded that Steve couldn’t be saved.
 

This news mentioned that they found him unconscious with his back on the surface and face down in the water. I wonder what type of BCD was he using?

Backplate & Wing BCD, when you over inflated it as you try to swim up against a down current, it tends to push your body forward when you reach the surface. That’s why I like to use the jacket type BCD as it will keep your body in vertical position like a life jacket. So if I reach the surface unconscious, at least my head will be above the water. I may get embolism, but at least not drown.
 
Divers need to have reef hook ready to deploy whenever they are going to dive in site that is known for down current such as Weka’s Wow, as I posted here; Trip Report - Raja Ampat, Live Report, Nov. 7-Dec. 7, 2023. Typically you want to dive it early in the morning when the current is mild. Also keep exploring close to the reef for a quick swim to the reef and hide / deploy your reef hook.

Since you can’t wear gloves in Raja Ampat, but they allow you to have a pointer, I have my pointer strap on my left wrist and use it to anchor the pointer into a crevice first before deploying my reef hook, which is clipped on to my BCD right chest D-ring.
I consider my gloves as important part of my safety gear as a pointer and reef hook when diving in current prone areas (and anywhere really), and generally avoid places/jurisdictions/operators that disallow them. Yes, I know the poor logic officials and operators have for forbidding them but my question is why should experienced responsible divers be penalized for poorly trained or poorly disciplined divers?
 


A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

This is a thread in the Accidents and Incidents subforum.

Here we can attempt to analyze the accident to assist ourselves and others in the future.

We are intended to be doing this in a compassionate way because often friends and loved ones of the deceased are reading. In this case, we know that for actual fact.

Therefore, please consider your words and posts thoughtfully.
 
This news mentioned that they found him unconscious with his back on the surface and face down in the water. I wonder what type of BCD was he using?

Backplate & Wing BCD, when you over inflated it as you try to swim up against a down current, it tends to push your body forward when you reach the surface. That’s why I like to use the jacket type BCD as it will keep your body in vertical position like a life jacket. So if I reach the surface unconscious, at least my head will be above the water. I may get embolism, but at least not drown.
There are BP+wing setups, as my one from Coltri, which have an extra part of the wing extending on your bell, which, when fully inflated, keep your head out of water, as with a jacket. In normal usage, only the rear part of the wing inflates, allowing you a perfect trim during the dive.
I really do not understand why this setup had so little success, I am using it since 1990... Coltri stopped selling it a couple years later.
 
Down currents are localized and caused by topography. They do not continue to go down forever. If you always have a reserve of air in your tank and stay calm, you're going to come up again or you might swim horizontally out of it. Down currents are common where you get big tidal flow squeezing around small islands.: Indonesia, Maldives, French Polynesia, Micronesia. etc.

Are non-subscribed supposed to be able to read the full article about Raja Ampat?
 
Are non-subscribed supposed to be able to read the full article about Raja Ampat?
Raja Ampat, or the "Four Kingdoms," is a group of Indonesian islands off West Papua's Bird's Head Peninsula. It became a hot diving spot in the '90s after Australian ichthyologist Gerry Allen and underwater photographers Denise and Larry Tackett revealed it had the world's richest reefs. More species of coral and fish have been identified off Cape Kri than anywhere in the world.

What makes these reefs so rich? Pacific ocean currents combine with tides and force water up through the Dampier Strait, where Kri Island acts as a foil to the flow. The nutrients in the cold oceanic up-wellings support the fabulous and prolific underwater flora and fauna.

Between Kri and the larger island Waigeo, the channel is peppered with reefs, causing ripping currents and over-falls. The currents near Kri can send the unprepared diver whirling downward, bottoming out at 40m before being released and spat out. At the far end is a manta cleaning station - Manta Sandy - where you hook into something secure and watch the mantas dance in the flow. Once you've selected your position, it's impossible to swim to another, the current can be so strong. Sometimes the sand is whipped up like an underwater sandstorm, leaving your photographs unsharp and disappointing, but if there is no current there will be no mantas.

Underwater photographers who like to dive repeatedly with the same subject to perfect their shots may be disappointed at many sites. Around the Dampier Strait, it's different every time you get into the water. The vast quantities of nutrients can also be problematic.

Most liveaboard operators have earmarked sites farther south that are less demanding of a diver-photographer. Of course, they are often less spectacular. Many of these reefs are home to pygmy seahorses. Take a strong magnifier or an extreme-macro camera.

Liveaboard operations tend to be divided between Northern and Southern charters. Some more extended trips incorporate both areas but leave the diving in the Dampier Strait until last so their passengers are well-dived. There is no point in frightening your passengers at the beginning of a charter.

The islands in the Misool region are jagged peaks that rise spectacularly. Close to the Misool Resort are three sites to which they shuttle divers back and forth, and the currents seem manageable. Liveaboards tend to press on after a few dives, ever looking for something better.

Finally, a word about the weather. Raja Ampat is at zero degrees latitude, and nowhere in the world is more tropical. The islands are in the doldrums, and strong winds with rough seas are rare. However, temperatures vary between extremely hot and quite cool and can happen almost moment to moment. Clouds continually roll across the sky, obscuring the sun, and it rains in biblical proportions, sometimes for days on end.

With ordinary ISO settings on my camera, I've often needed long exposures to get the background light in balance with my flash. Down deep, there is little natural light. In the north, nutrients rushing past in the current can cause an unsharp effect so pictures can be disappointing. That said, there's always plenty to photograph. In the southern area, diving is easier but visibly and dramatically less dynamic.

Said simply, the Dampier Strait is good for adventurous diving, and the southern area around Misool is better for more sedate underwater photography with plenty of macro subjects.

- John Bantin, Senior Editor
The Danger of Down Currents

Currents can also be caused by strong wind or high-pressure atmospheric conditions building up pressure in the open ocean. When a current comes up against a vertical wall, it must flow up and over, around, or down. That vertical down current can be very dangerous to those divers unaware of how to cope.

Divers meet down currents at the Maldivian atolls' outside reefs and at Indonesian islands, where there is a tidal difference between the Indian Ocean and the smaller seas to the north, such as the Banda Sea. Indonesia's Raja Ampat is well known for its currents. One of its famous sites, Cape Kri in the Dampier Strait, often has an infamous down current that may appear just as divers are finishing their dives. It can whisk divers down to 130 feet before releasing them to bob back to the surface, a frightening experience for an unsuspecting diver. Divers have died there.

They Can Be Very Localized.

Downward currents can be strong, multi-directional, and dangerous. They can begin the moment a tide changes. There may be tell-tale signs: schooling fish swimming energetically yet vertically, or soft corals flattened in the flow.

Sometimes they are very localized. The flow that promises to send you down 100 feet might not affect a diver only a few feet away from you. In my early diving days, I had the surreal experience of trying to climb a reef wall near Komodo when another diver kindly offered me his gloves. He was not affected by the current and was wondering what I was doing, yet he was only an arm's length away.

Swim horizontally away from whatever is causing the down current, usually a reef wall.
If you find yourself in a down current, it can be of little use to inflate your BC or SMB or to try to swim up against the current. I've watched in awe as the surface marker buoy I deployed at 60 feet hit the down current near the surface, turned away from the reef face, and descended fully inflated.

Imagine a Waterfall

Think of a down current as a waterfall. If you get close to the wall, you might get out of it in the lee of an overhang. But where do you go? Certainly not rock climbing. And you're not a powerful swimmer like a salmon.

So, you must swim horizontally as hard as you can away from whatever is causing the current - that waterfall - to flow downward. It's usually a reef wall. You don't know how wide the waterfall is, so swim toward the open ocean and out of the waterfall.

If you did inflate your BC and dropped your weights, you risk an uncontrolled ascent to the surface once you are free of the current - so that's to be done only if you are almost out of air and totally out of ideas.
 

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