Umbilical severed at 80 meters in North Sea

[Lemna]

We used AGA (now Interspiro) 3.8L/300 bar twins for bailouts in the 1970s and 80s... still my favorite Scuba rig in cold water. Who makes those HP 7 Liter bottles now?

Eurocylinders, for example: DIR Halcyon D7, 300 bar

This is a quite popular set around here for recreational diving.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

More than likely the cold water assisted in saving his life.

 

[Akimbo]

Eurocylinders, for example: DIR Halcyon D7, 300 bar...

Thanks for that link. I wish we could get them over here. I am using a pair of twin LP-45 Fabers (7 Liter/182 Bar) for recreational diving. I built another set with a special manifold for bailout use over here with only 12mm between cylinders.

The first two images are the valve-down recreational rig with the 190mm isolation manifold and the last image is the custom manifold for the narrower bailout.

 

[Bombay High]

We used AGA (now Interspiro) 3.8L/300 bar twins for bailouts in the 1970s and 80s... still my favorite Scuba rig in cold water. Who makes those HP 7 Liter bottles now?

In any case, they could not have lasted long after the hot water stopped flowing. His core temperature must have dropped like a rock. As a reference, Helium conducts heat about 6x faster than air and about 50% or our heat loss is through respiration.

You have to take slow deep breaths to conserve gas in a lightweight hat — shallow breaths builds up CO2 in the oral-nasal mask pretty fast. I don’t know about you guys but my respiration rate skyrockets when that cold water hits my crotch. He must have had amazing self-control or the cold shut his body down in ways science doesn’t fully understand to last that long without gas.

Maybe some of you guys with more recent sat experience know: Are they running rich O2 bail-out mixes these days? Hyper-oxygenation might account for some of the added survival time. We used to keep ours the same as the umbilical mix, between .3 and .5 ATA.

This is one of the most amazing stories in recent times. That he is alive (and still in deco) is nothing short of a miracle. I had an email from a rep from the Divers Association who is in Aberdeen right now trying to get more information. The bailout gas is still the same as the umbilical (deep mix). He was out of gas for more than 18 minutes (if my information is correct). The hypothesis right now is that the cold made him unconscious before he ran out of gas, and thats pretty much what saved his life. He was in suspended animation and revived with the first or second breath he was given by the bellman. Never heard of anything like this before.
He was also incredibly calm, given that he had to have known that his chances of ever seeing topside (and his loved ones) was pretty slim.
The dive operator knows that he's going to be given a proper shafting on this one. This could have been the 1st fatality in the North Sea in over 9 years.
I am just happy that there was a huge wakeup call end the ending is a happy one.

 

[Sat Diver]

The ship lost its position and dragged the bell. One diver made it back and the other had his umbilical looped around a part of the structure, and when the bell moved, it snapped the umbilical. It was with utter disbelief and happiness that I read that the Diver survived and is apparently doing well (under the circumstances).
Without a doubt, his life is changed forever.
He looked into the light and came back.
On the floor of the North Sea that is as much of a miracle as you can ask for.
SS -keep us posted as you hear more. I was surprised Mark Longstreath has been silent until now. He is probably waiting for more info before taking action.
Mark, Hal Watts, John Roat and gang are doing a great job at the Association. I hope it works to improve safety standards. How is your battle going ?

 

[Akimbo]

... The bailout gas is still the same as the umbilical (deep mix). He was out of gas for more than 18 minutes (if my information is correct...

Maybe this is a question for the medical forum, but maybe a rich O2 bailout mix might be worth considering. As I understand it, even 5-10 breaths at 2-3x normal PPO2 goes a long way towards supersaturating the blood. It could make the difference when seconds count. I wouldn't have any heartburn with a 1.5 ATA mix calculated for the deepest excursion. OxTox is pretty remote in the few minutes a bailout lasts, even under stress.

Can anybody remember a case where a diver didn't make it to the hatch on bailout?

... This could have been the 1st fatality in the North Sea in over 9 years...

Pretty amazing when you think of the tens of thousands of in-water man-hours in the last 9 years. Even more so when you deduct "industrial accidents" (crush injuries, parted rigging, tool failures, etc.) from the true diving accidents (no-gas, bad gas, hyperthermia, etc.) over the last 30 years" especially when you limit it to sat.

 

[Moonglow]

He was out of gas for more than 18 minutes (if my information is correct). The hypothesis right now is that the cold made him unconscious before he ran out of gas, and thats pretty much what saved his life. He was in suspended animation and revived with the first or second breath he was given by the bellman. Never heard of anything like this before.

You got that right! "Suspended animation" is science fiction.

 

[Crush]

Maybe this is a question for the medical forum, but maybe a rich O2 bailout mix might be worth considering. As I understand it, even 5-10 breaths at 2-3x normal PPO2 goes a long way towards supersaturating the blood. It could make the difference when seconds count. I wouldn’t have any heartburn with a 1.5 ATA mix calculated for the deepest excursion. OxTox is pretty remote in the few minutes a bailout lasts, even under stress.

Interesting question outside of my expertise. If memory serves me, in the former Soviet Union they used to do heart transplants without a heart and lung machine to keep the patient alive. The procedure was to put the patient under, then cool their entire body and especially the head. The cooling led to decreased cellular activity allowing the tissues to survive on what oxygen remained in the tissues - this was particularly important for the brain which is energy-hungry and where small amounts of cellular damage can have (or not) a pronounced effect. I don't know of pure O2 was part of the regimen or not. Unfortunately I don't think (correct me if I am wrong) that removing your hard hat to allow the water to cool your head is feasible or even desirable. Plus, it would take a while for the cool water to cool your brain - perhaps just a system-wide cooling is all you can hope for.

 

[Bombay High]

Can anybody remember a case where a diver didn’t make it to the hatch on bailout?



Pretty amazing when you think of the tens of thousands of in-water man-hours in the last 9 years. Even more so when you deduct “industrial accidents” (crush injuries, parted rigging, tool failures, etc.) from the true diving accidents (no-gas, bad gas, hyperthermia, etc.) over the last 30 years… especially when you limit it to sat.

Cant remember a case offhand of a diver not making it back on bailout.

The track record in the North Sea is pretty amazing all things considered. In Sat there is such little room for error, and I think thats one of the reasons everyone stays so focussed on the job at hand.

---------- Post Merged at 11:03 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 11:00 PM ----------

SS -keep us posted as you hear more. I was surprised Mark Longstreath has been silent until now. He is probably waiting for more info before taking action.
Mark, Hal Watts, John Roat and gang are doing a great job at the Association. I hope it works to improve safety standards. How is your battle going ?

Yes, very uncharacteristic of Mark. Gathering ammo no doubt. The Association is the way forward. They have already got the attention of the powers that be. You should join. My battle is getting along ... not a battle really with Stena its more of a family fight.

---------- Post Merged at 11:05 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 11:00 PM ----------

You got that right! "Suspended animation" is science fiction.

It is like science fiction that this guy is alive right now.

 

[Akimbo]

... Unfortunately I don't think (correct me if I am wrong) that removing your hard hat to allow the water to cool your head is feasible or even desirable. Plus, it would take a while for the cool water to cool your brain - perhaps just a system-wide cooling is all you can hope for.

Interesting thought on brain cooling... but way too big a price to pay for loosing gas and comms. Carbon Dioxide will still cause involuntary respiration when unconscious so you would also have the problem of clearing water from the lungs. Wouldn't it be nice if this near-tragedy resulted in a safer system overall?

I seem to remember an old movie where a man and woman were trapped and she would intentionally drown as the hero swam her back to another habitat. She hypothesized that the cold would allow her to recover... this event is fantastic but a lot more believable than that movie.