Tank explosion kills one - Cozumel

[JFS]

I was across the street and heard the explosion. Sounded like a bomb went off. People running everywhere. Sad for all those involved.

 

[Scubadude_LA]

My condolences.

 

[Scubadude_LA]

When in Coz I saw some really scary tanks. Looked like the valves were permanently corroded to the cylinder, that was the appearance anyway. Like the one in this pic I took. Zoom in on the close up pic and tell me how long you thing is was since the last time the valve was off this tank. This one wasn't as bad as some others. I know they see a lot of use down there, but still made me cringe.

 

[DogDiver]

This is fairly common problem in the Caribbean. No regulations only guidelines. Just know your operator well.


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[BettyfromToronto]

We stayed at Scuba Club Cozumel 5x over two years before moving here. I knew Juan as well as I knew the guys at the dive shop and he was a very sweet guy. Quiet but was always around the dive shop and ready to offer a helping hand.

He will be missed. Prayers go out to his family.

Betty

 

[robint]

So sad.

 

[flots am]

(Emphasis mine)

I know that the hydro stamp is a US/Canadian DOT regulation for pressurized cylinders. It isn't a scuba diving regulation. Does Mexico even have this testing requirement for pressurized cylinders?

Pretty much the entire civilized world requires hydro testing on pressurized cylinders. Many are more strict than the US.

Diving cylinder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not sure if Mexico has any legal requirements, but most (all?) of Europe does, as well as Australia.

Even without the law behind it, I would think that self preservation would encourage the required testing.

I don't think I've ever heard of a properly inspected cylinder exploding.

flots.

 

[boulderjohn]

I don't think I've ever heard of a properly inspected cylinder exploding.

If you take the one day PSI course certifying you to inspect tanks, approximately 40% of the day is spent looking at pictures of exploded tanks. I have no way of knowing whether they were properly or improperly inspected before the explosions.

(BTW, in case you are interested, here is how the remaining 60% of the day breaks down:

Information related to tank inspections: 20%
Practice inspecting tanks: 5%
Stories detailing the greatness of PSI as an organization: 35%)

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Bad news...sad to hear about another one blowing up....

 

[cb5150]

We were relaxing in the hammocks when the tank blew...it sounded like a bomb went off. We immediately ran over to offer assistance and the Coz paramedics were on scene within minutes. On Tuesday night, during the beach party, one of the members of our group did a bit of fundraising among all the guests. It was very touching to see how quickly everyone opened their hearts and wallets to help his family.