Hong Kong diver dead in Indonesia.

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DandyDon

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from HK scuba diver killed in Indonesia
A Hong Kong tourist has died while scuba diving in Indonesia. Xinhua news agency says the 41-year-old died off south Sulawesi on Wednesday. His family members are flying to the scene.

An offical from the Chinese embassy said the deceased was a diving enthusiast, and had been a frequent visitor to a diving resort there. The embassy is contacting the Indonesian police to find out the cause of death.
(I do not correct typos in quotes.)

More at Chinese Tourist Found Dead in Sulawesi
A Chinese tourist identified as An Tsang Ngai, 41, was found dead at the Tanjung Bira beach in Bulukumba district in South Sulawesi, police spokesman Sr. Comr. Chevy Ahmad Sopary said on Thursday.

Chevy said the tourist had been staying near the beach since Tuesday. Witnesses said he was diving alone at the nearby waters before his body was found by a local tour guide after it was swept ashore.

Police, Chevy said, were conducting an investigation, adding that the preliminary findings suggested the man ran out of oxygen or had been diving deeper than the 30-meter depth for which his equipment was designed.

Chevy said that a post-mortem examination by the Sultan Daeng Radja general hospital found no signs of violence, ruling out foul play. Police are contacting the Chinese Embassy to arrange the body’s return to China. 
 
Guys,

I solo dive quite often. What are the things that may go wrong? Normally, I never go deeper than 20m. Any advice out there?
 
Guys,

I solo dive quite often. What are the things that may go wrong? Normally, I never go deeper than 20m. Any advice out there?
There are at least a hundred possible problems, but that'd best be discussed on a general forum, separate thread.
 
There seems to be a high percentage of fatal incidents amongst Hong Kong national divers, especially given the relatively small diving community they have there.

I wonder if there is a trend... and, if so, why?

With regards this specific incident, there's not much to do except speculate until more details become available.

Things that catch my eye;

1) Diver's corpse discovered by passing 'guide' on (near?) the shore. A chance discovery? Report doesn't mention the diver being 'overdue' or any sort of deliberate search being carried out. I would expect such a thing to be mentioned in a news report. That might indicate that the solo (?) diver hadn't informed anyone of his dive plan and/or hadn't arranged any surface cover or support for his dive.

2) Report mentions he was solo diving. No need to discuss the merits of that here. Given that his body was discovered on the shore - and there is no mention of 'alarm being raised once missing' - that tends to support that he was solo.

3) Report mentions 'ran out of oxygen'. Amazed reporters still make that error - I don't think there's any question that this diver died from running out of 100% deco gas... let's assume it was air (or nitrox). There's many reasons for that - all would have been survivable if he had a buddy present. Even if solo, most would have been survivable if he was at an appropriate depth (to conduct CESA), except for entanglements, non-related medical conditions or depth-related complications; such as narcosis or CO2 build-up. However, a non-diving medical condition (i.e. heart attack) would be unlikely to drain his air.

4) Report mentions 'diving deeper than (30m) for which his gear had been designed'. I am not aware of any life-support scuba equipment that isn't designed for depths deeper than 30m. Cameras, housings have depth limits. Scuba equipment doesn't (within recreational - moderate technical ranges). This is complete nonsensical reporting. We might reasonably assume that the reporter is actually referring to the divers certification level (AOW?), rather than any tolerance of his equipment.

5) The link between 'out-of-air' and 'deeper than 30m' and 'no buddy' makes reasonable sense. It paints a reasonable picture of the sort of dive that was being conducted and, also, the diver's competence to complete that dive.

6) The report mentions 'diving deeper than 30m'. It'd be interesting to know the topography of the dive site/location where the accident occurred. Diver's corpse floated to shore (to be discovered there) - which also indicates he was somewhat buoyant when he died and/or the bottom was slopping and he was washed up (along the bottom). Alternatively, the report could be badly worded and the diver was located 'near the shore' - by a diving guide (underwater). Those circumstances, if clarified, would allow further analysis.

6) The only equipment restriction I can think of relating to depth... would be something like a 'Spare Air'. God forbid that this guy was 'demi-diving' with a Spare Air, especially to depths in excess of 30m. I believe there were a spate of such fatalities in Asia a few years ago... when Spare Air was promoted as a 'non-scuba' watersports/snorkelling item in general leisure shops. Most of those deaths occurred due to lung over-expansion injuries.
 
4) Report mentions 'diving deeper than (30m) for which his gear had been designed'. I am not aware of any life-support scuba equipment that isn't designed for depths deeper than 30m. Cameras, housings have depth limits. Scuba equipment doesn't (within recreational - moderate technical ranges). This is complete nonsensical reporting. We might reasonably assume that the reporter is actually referring to the divers certification level (AOW?), rather than any tolerance of his equipment.
That caught my eye too, and I'm sure the explanation is as you surmise. But I thought I saw a reference here somewhere to a rebreather that needed to be modified to exceed a certain depth. Any idea?
 
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It is believed that this is the Facebook page of the deceased.

Hearsay has it that Felix's dive computer malfunctioned, and when he ascended he suffered from pulmonary barotrauma.
 
If that is, indeed, the Facebook page of the deceased, it certainly gives some clues:

Wall comments describe "single tank air record" (duration of long dive)
Talk of heavy drinking and hangovers.
Seems he was an avid spearfisherman also (photo gallery full of dead fish pics and him spearfishing) - and was maybe doing this in Indonesia (not sure of legality of the that?)
All photos of him are with a single cylinder/rec kit.

Some of his friends comments paint a picture:

FT-FB.jpg



Not sure exactly how a dive computer malfunction would cause pulmonary barotrauma - except if he was diving silly deep and then, on failure, rocketed to the surface whilst holding breath. That doesn't account for being out-of-air though.

Most likely scenario was silly deep dive, doing some spearing and distracted, ran out of air... failed CESA to get up (burst lung)... computer had gone into error mode due to depth/fast ascent/missed deco. Obviously the computer doesn't know the user is dead...

Hmmm..... where are all those threads proclaiming the virtues of deep air bounce deco dives again?
 

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