German woman dies diving Cozumel

[Under the Sea]

Anyone know about anything about the German woman from Playa that died while diving in Cozumel on Monday, Nov. 23, 2009?

 

[Scuba"D"]

Yes, in fact, there was a German lady that died in Cozumel. I was on the dive. My first dive of my trip and it was a deep water dive. There were nine of us including the instructor who ironically, was her buddy. She had a camera with her and had roughly 18 dives. I knew this because my buddy was brand new, first dive outside of OW certification, we asked. She was in Cozumel alone on "holiday". We descended and had been down for about 10-15 minutes. She seemed to be happily snapping pictures as the instructor pointed out various fish. We were about to go through a swim-thru at about 70' and I noticed her flailing a little, trying to get air in her BCD. It looked like she was having buoyancy problems. I was way ahead but kept looking back about to swim back to her when someone swam to her and shot some air in her BCD. They communicated a bit and I though all was okay. I turned and went through the swim-thru. That was the last I saw of her until the end of the dive.
I spoke with the man that helped her and the rest of it was what I got from him. She went through the swim-thru and was flailing more, almost crawling in the water. At that point it appeared like she was in a daze so he did an emergency ascent and brought her to the surface. She was not breathing and didn't have a pulse. They got her on the boat and began CPR. She was rushed to shore and went to the clinic. I was told they never got a pulse. I heard the equipment was checked out okay and as of Wednesdy the 24th, they didn't know what went wrong. Very scary.

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks, Scuba"D". Such a horrible introduction to Coz diving for you, traumatic on everyone on the boat, as well as an unfortunate loss of the lady. Please do be sure to talk this over with trusted friends and/or other divers and not let it get to you. Best wishes, neighbor.

 

[Ayisha]

So the instructor, who was her buddy, was not the person who attempted to help her and bring her up?

It sounds like at least a couple of divers were (allowed to be) led beyond their training, experience and probably their comfort level. Others could easily have been hurt or killed. Deep dives (or swim-throughs) are not appropriate for brand new o/w divers, as a first dive or for divers struggling with buoyancy or other skills.

It sounds like you're very observant and watching the divers around you. That is a great skill to have and hone. Hope that you are handling reasonably well the events you have witnessed. Take care...

 

[Tricia]

I am disturbed by the statement "She had about 18 dives and had a camera with her."

Folks, I didn't start diving with a camera until I had at least 50 dives. I can honestly tell you that while having a camera is great, it is a distraction. At 18 dives, you're still getting your bouyancy under control, learning when a "strange noise or sensation" isn't anything to worry about, etc.

In my day, the dive ops wouldn't let you dive with a camera unless you could show your experience, either by the logbook or by doing the first dive without a camera to show you were OK underwater. These days, it seems like everybody shows up with a digital for their first open water dive - and the dive ops don't object.

Now I realise we don't have all the info here, but I'm pretty sure this poor lady started to get into trouble (that maybe she could have gotten out of) long before everything started to "go South". But how would she have realised that if she was busy taking fish photos?

A very sad situation.

Trish

 

[Hintermann]

Very sorry to hear about this German woman's death. Condolences to her family and friends.

I know that it will probably take a while for us to know all the facts about the circumstances involved in this particular case, but I have to say that I was more than a little disappointed with the attitude of the Dive centres and dive guides in Cozumel when we went there in December 2008. We were using a supposedly PADI 5-star Dive centre attached to a resort (I'll name them only if the mods allow me) but the offhand attitude of almost all the staff shocked me. There was never a proper dive briefing, they were not even sure who was going in which boat (for example, they had the wife and I listed on separate boats even though we pointed out twice on the day and during the dive that we were together) and seemed to be baffled why so-and-so was or was not there. A boat with 16 to 18 divers consisted of one guide, one 'captain' and one non-diving crew member. Without being rude, the person doing the last job on our boat was "simple" in the extreme and seemed to have no concept of safety etc.

But the real problem was the dive guide who jumped into the water first, did not even wait to see if the rest of us had followed and simply kept going down and away. On one occasion, no less than 6 of us had to abort a dive and get back into the boat because of his carelessness. We later put in an official complaint to PADI against the dive centre, including a personal complaint against the guide.

I am not saying that this German woman's death had anything to do with crew carelessness, but I frankly would not be surprised if it turns out that it did.

 

[Jax]

She seemed to be happily snapping pictures as the instructor pointed out various fish. We were about to go through a swim-thru at about 70' and I noticed her flailing a little, trying to get air in her BCD. It looked like she was having buoyancy problems. I was way ahead but kept looking back about to swim back to her when someone swam to her and shot some air in her BCD. They communicated a bit and I though all was okay. I turned and went through the swim-thru. That was the last I saw of her until the end of the dive.
I spoke with the man that helped her and the rest of it was what I got from him. She went through the swim-thru and was flailing more, almost crawling in the water. At that point it appeared like she was in a daze so he did an emergency ascent and brought her to the surface. She was not breathing and didn't have a pulse. They got her on the boat and began CPR. She was rushed to shore and went to the clinic. I was told they never got a pulse. I heard the equipment was checked out okay and as of Wednesdy the 24th, they didn't know what went wrong. Very scary.

Hi, Scuba D. Sorry about your witnessing that event.

[Novice Diver] Is it possible she narc'd at such a depth? [/Novice Diver]

 

[Epinephelus]

Oh, good grief!
A camera! Today's cameras are so small and simple there's no reason not to carry one all the time, from dive one. Or from snorkel one!
Back in the days of iron men and wooden ships we all made our very first dive with a speargun. Not many used it on the first dive, but we all carried one. A modern camera's nothing.
Lambasting COZ dive practices on this one is quite a stretch (to say nothing of being off-topic with tales from other times and other divers that have absolutely nothing to do with this accident). From the eyewitness account in the second post, this unfortunate lady was the victim of something other-than-scuba, and just happened to be underwater when it happened.
I'd bet even money that when the ME's done that's what we'll find out.
E

 

[carriemak]

If I am reading this correctly, the buddy/instructor was not with the lady when the situation occurred? Then where was her buddy?

 

[Rick Murchison]

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