Yukon Mishap 9/11/2010

[bleeb]

Scuba diver dies in Mission Bay - Southwest Riverside County News
A short blurb.

Highlights:
- Diver went missing.
- Found unconscious on bottom by lifeguards w/ dive gear.
- CPR performed.
- Paramedics declared him at the scene.

 

[raybosd]

It looks like he was diving without a buddy....

 

[Scott]

It looks like he was diving without a buddy....

And you know this how?

 

[sardiverdan]

Got the word on this one this afternoon. Going to assume he was diving solo as they had to wait until roll call to discover he was not onboard.

 

[raybosd]

He was diving off the Humboldt, a local dive boat in San Diego. The report was on the San Diego Union-Tribune website

I've dove with this boat several times and they are a top notch operation...don't know all the details yet..this is all I've heard so far.

 

[Jax]

Diver found dead at "Yukon" wreck - SignOnSanDiego.com

Diver found dead at "Yukon" wreck
By Pauline Repard, UNION-TRIBUNE

Saturday, September 11, 2010 at 6:20 p.m.

A 39-year-old diver died while exploring a popular dive site, the “Yukon” sunken ship nearly two miles off Mission Beach Saturday, authorities said.

The man’s name was not released.

Crew members on the “Humboldt” radioed the San Diego Life Guard Service about 3:20 p.m. to report a missing diver, life guard Lt. John Everheart said.

Everheart said the diver had been underwater about an hour and did not have a diving partner.

There were additional divers onboard the “Humboldt,” a commercial dive boat operated by Waterhorse Charters in Mission Bay.

Three life guards donned scuba gear, searched around the “Yukon” and found the diver about 100 feet beneath the surface, face down on the ocean floor.

They brought the diver to the surface and started CPR. Everheart said they took the diver by boat to life guard headquarters in Mission Bay, where paramedics declared him dead.

The “Yukon” is a 366-foot Canadian destroyer sunk nearly two miles off the coast of Mission Beach in 2000 for recreational diving and as an artificial reef for sea life.

 

[A&I Mod]

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Thanks in advance,
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Please adhere to these rules... I've added emphasis to rule 6 'cause that's the one that needs emphasis so far

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[JTinSD]

This report says Humboldt had left the site, then discovered the diver was missing.

Witnesses say divers explored the wreck, surfaced and left the site. While the boat was moving, a father and son realized the man - who they had just met while heading to the Yukon - was not on the boat. The crew conducted a headcount and realized one person was missing.

 

[Rick Murchison]

...So it sounds like they counted the tanks, saw they were all there and then left...

How long, O Lord? How long? How long must we endure the fallacies of tank counts and head counts before we realize that the only reliable way to assure everyone's on board is to do a roll call, name by name, with no one answering for anyone else???
Rick

 

[Jax]

Diver Dies Off Mission Beach | NBC San Diego

Diver Dies Off Mission Beach
Lifeguards say he had no buddy
By CHRIS CHAN
Updated 10:39 AM PDT, Sun, Sep 12, 2010

A diver is dead, after San Diego Lifeguard divers found him floating unconscious at the bottom of the ocean on Saturday.

The 48-year-old man boarded a charter boat with thirteen other passengers for a diving expedition off Mission Beach. The divers were exploring the HMS Yukon as the first stop on their tour.

The man was certified as an advanced diver and was diving alone, officials said.

The other divers in the group say they saw the man during the dive; it wasn't until they got onto the boat that they realized he was missing.

"A couple of the other divers that were there at the time, spotted him swimming around in circles like he had found something interesting in the sand," said Waterhouse Charters' Ryan Wilbarger.

Passengers on the boat realized the man was missing when the boat moved on to another dive site.

"My dad and I, we were coming back on the boat, started looking around for him and all of a sudden we were like 'hey, we were wondering where the guy was', so then we did a headcount and found out he was missing," said diver David Whiteside.

The boat crew called the Coast Guard and San Diego Lifeguards, who found the man unconscious and tried to revive him.

"Lifeguard dive team members found him about 25 - 30 yards on the west side of the vessel midship" said San Diego Lifeguard Lt. Nick Lerma. "He wasn't inside the vessel when he was located."

Both the Coast Guard and Medical Examiner are investigating whether he had a problem with his equipment or if he had some type of medical issue.

Police have not released the man's name and his fellow divers only had brief conversations with the man before the dive.

"He was a retired veteran and going to school on the GI Bill and that's pretty much all we talked about," Whiteside said.

This is the third death of a diver at the Yukon since it was sunk off Mission Beach in 2000. The others, a man and a woman, were also known to be experienced divers.