Two fatalities at Harvard Mine, California

[DandyDon]

It sounds like possibly an OOA incident that became two? I'm still trying to understand how Pollard suffered a "lung injury" while sharing air, and how Dedic drowned after making it to the surface, if those statements are correct? Maybe we are not going to receive enough info to know?

My take away lessons here would seem to be basic...

Manage your air and don't run out.

Don't hold your breath even on emergency ascent.

Ditch weights if in distress.​

Common reminders here.

 

[Dack]

I'm also unclear on the lung injury for Jamie. Was that the cause of the panic, or the result?

Based on reading all the other responses and interviews with associates it seems they planned for a dive with a decompression obligation. Rule of Thirds, there should have been enough gas to safely complete the decompression even after sharing gas.

So either they (1) went deeper than planned, (2) stayed down longer than planned, (3) didn't plan for sharing air.

Not sure if we'll learn more without knowing the dive plan. Seems like both had a choice between surfacing and facing extreme DCI, or staying down and running out of air.

- Dack

 

[*dave*]

My take away lessons here would seem to be basic...

Manage your air and don't run out.
Don't hold your breath even on emergency ascent.
Ditch weights if in distress.​

Common reminders here.

Seems I recall something about these points during OW class. It really sucks that someone should have to die to bring such basic concepts to light.

 

[DandyDon]

I'm also unclear on the lung injury for Jamie. Was that the cause of the panic, or the result?

Based on reading all the other responses and interviews with associates it seems they planned for a dive with a decompression obligation. Rule of Thirds, there should have been enough gas to safely complete the decompression even after sharing gas.

So either they (1) went deeper than planned, (2) stayed down longer than planned, (3) didn't plan for sharing air.

Not sure if we'll learn more without knowing the dive plan. Seems like both had a choice between surfacing and facing extreme DCI, or staying down and running out of air.

- Dack

I don't know that there was a panic established? The lung injury and discussion of air sharing would suggest OOA and a botched CESA, but I'm not sure of that - simply my speculation.

The Rule of Thirds has nothing to do with Deco. See Rule of thirds (diving) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If there was Deco planned, there are different ways to plan the dives and air, some better than others, and that might be how he ran OOA?

 

[boulderjohn]

The Rule of Thirds has nothing to do with Deco. See Rule of thirds (diving) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are people who use the rule of thirds to plan the beginning of their ascent in deco dives. This is independent of any special deco gas you might be carrying. This method is included in the TDI training materials for trimix diving.

 

[TSandM]

I read a bunch of the earlier information about this accident, and I would really like to see more thorough information before we try to incorporate this last bit. It is not difficult to imagine the OOA diver holding his breath at some point in his ascent; panic will do that to you. But Dedic, who, if I have the story straight, was one of the two technical divers, should have had tons of gas -- and even if he had to share gas with the OOA diver for a while, once he got on his deco bottles, he had plenty to get to the surface, even if backgas was completely depleted. Something is not adding up here. Dedic drowned -- but I wonder much more if he might have toxed from doing a gas switch unsupervised, and then drowned while unconscious from the seizure. Running out of gas just shouldn't have been in the scenario, given that they all got to 70 feet together.

 

[DandyDon]

Okay, this one suggests a little bit different twist, that Pollard surface alone and injured, Dedic entered the water at that time as a rescue attempt - perhaps with a used tank that had little gas reserves, then failed to establish his own buoyancy on the surface?

Excerpting from Coroner: Lodi resident Dale Dedic drowned trying to save friend - Lodi News-Sentinel: News

Lodi resident Dale Allen Dedic drowned either because he didn't have enough air or mismanaged his air supply while trying to rescue fellow scuba diver Jamie Pollard on April 9, according to a recently released autopsy report by the Tuolumne County Coroner's Office.
Dedic, 34, and Pollard, 37, of Stockton, died in the Harvard Mine pit, an abandoned mine filled with water outside Jamestown.
Dedic and Pollard were with two other scuba divers when the tragedy occurred. Pollard was rescued that afternoon, but died a short time later at a Sonora hospital, Tuolumne Country Sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Wilson said shortly after the incident.
Dedic dove into the water when Pollard struggled after suffering a lung injury, Wilson said on Thursday. Dedic attempted to rescue Pollard by sharing his scuba tank.

 

[mikemikethepike]

Okay, this one suggests a little bit different twist, that Pollard surface alone and injured, Dedic entered the water at that time as a rescue attempt - perhaps with a used tank that had little gas reserves, then failed to establish his own buoyancy on the surface?

Excerpting from Coroner: Lodi resident Dale Dedic drowned trying to save friend - Lodi News-Sentinel: News

I see what you are reading there and it makes it sound like Dedic was assisting Pollard at the Surface; rather, Dedic was assisting Pollard AT DEPTH. Then Wheeler assisted Pollard to the surface, while Dedic stayed at depth.

So Dedic not establishing positive buoyancy at the surface is not in question. Dedic did not make it to the surface alive.

 

[DandyDon]

I see what you are reading there and it makes it sound like Dedic was assisting Pollard at the Surface; rather, Dedic was assisting Pollard AT DEPTH. Then Wheeler assisted Pollard to the surface, while Dedic stayed at depth.

So Dedic not establishing positive buoyancy at the surface is not in question. Dedic did not make it to the surface alive.

Ok, I appreciate your info as compared to the news report, which are often not very factual.

So both deceased divers ran OOA, one died from lung injury surfacing, the other from failure to surface? I guess we'll be left to wonder how two experienced divers could fail in such basics. So very unfortunate.