Accident at Humber Bay, Toronto

[shoredivr]

Global Toronto | Woman pulled from Lake Ontario
TORONTO - A 58-year-old woman remains in serious condition after being pulled from Lake Ontario Friday afternoon.

The incident happened just after 2pm near the Etobicoke Yacht Club at 300 Humber Bay Park Road West.

Toronto Police say the woman was scuba diving with her husband when she was taken out of the water.

Reports suggest she was underneath the water for about 10 minutes before being rescued by the police marine unit and taken to hospital.

Emergency crews found the woman without vital signs but was later able to revive her.

Police continue their investigation.

​

Diver pulled from water in Humber Bay | CTV Toronto
CTVNews.ca Staff

Date: Friday Apr. 13, 2012 3:19 PM ET
A 58-year-old woman who was scuba diving near the Etobicoke Yacht Club was pulled from the water in Humber Bay with no vital signs Friday afternoon.
Police said the woman was with her husband about 10 metres from the shore near Humber Bay Park.
She was trying to pull scuba equipment out of the water and she fell in.
The woman was still wearing all her gear and her husband had half his gear on, a police source said.
Police said the marine unit responded to a call around 1:30 p.m. and found the woman in the water with her husband and another diver, a Good Samaritan, trying to help her.
The woman was not breathing when she was pulled from the water.
She had been in the water for at least 10 minutes when she was rescued, police said.
The woman was taken to hospital by ambulance with EMS trying to resuscitate her.
A witness who was riding by on his bike said a man who appeared to be the woman's husband was lying on the ground as well, and appeared to be having problems breathing.
Police said the woman's husband is traumatized, but is physically OK.
The woman was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in serious condition, police said.
Police are speaking to witnesses, including other divers who were in the area, to determine exactly what happened.



Two slightly different versions. In the second one, she falls in wearing gear.

I remember reading a post from TSandM years ago about keeping her reg in her mouth when exiting the water because once she'd fallen in shallow water without her reg in her mouth (and IIRC wearing doubles?) hurt herself in the fall and had some issues getting a reg...something like that, TSand m correct me if I'm wrong. The take home story for me was keep reg in even when walking in shallow water. Maybe what happened here?

Keeping this couple in my thoughts. This is one of my winter dive spots when all else is frozen.

 

[Ayisha]

Good point, shoredivr.

CP24 (local news) stated that she was about 10 metres from shore when she somehow became submerged. Most of the articles so far are stating that she was trying to pull her gear and fell. It seems that the area she fell into wasn't that shallow and her husband and another diver tried to bring her up for up to 10 minutes before she was successfully brought up. Quite a few unanswered questions...

CP24 is still reporting now that she is in hospital in serious condition. Story with video:

CP24- Woman pulled from Lake Ontario, rushed to hospital

---------- Post added April 13th, 2012 at 10:41 PM ----------

CTV (local news) is reporting that the female victim was trying new gear today, but still don't know what caused her to become submerged. The good samaritan Elliott who heard the commotion grabbed a tank and pulled out her husband first, then went back and brought out the wife.

Good work Elliott bringing out 2 people yourself!

News video here:
CTV Toronto | Canadian television's online home for news about Toronto and the GTA

---------- Post added April 14th, 2012 at 02:40 AM ----------

Here is another News video from CityTV (local news):

Man who pulled woman from Lake Ontario speaks to CityNews

 

[shoredivr]

Ok from information over on Ontario Diving.com, hoping for her speedy recovery and keeping the family in my thoughts.

 

[Hatul]

I was trying to figure out the depth and distance from shore. It sounded like it was in very shallow water and they must have been wearing drysuits with the water temp being 43F.

 

[TSandM]

A couple of years ago, here in Seattle, a fellow died when he fell off some rocks he was walking on. The water there is only about ten feet deep, but our viz is often low, and his buddy couldn't FIND him until it was too late.

I NEVER walk into or out of the water on a shore dive without my BC fully inflated, and without having checked to be sure that my regs are working. I don't necessarily go in with my reg in my mouth, but I do in surf (and out as well). I also keep my reg in my mouth until I am ON the boat deck, even though I get some funny looks for it.

One of the most unnecessary ways to die diving is to have problems on entry or exit.

 

[Hawkwood]

... I also keep my reg in my mouth until I am ON the boat deck, even though I get some funny looks for it.

One of the most unnecessary ways to die diving is to have problems on entry or exit.

All my students are taught to do that. When they do exits from the pool to simulate going up a boat ladder, they keep the regs in until they are on "deck". My wife and I are usually the only ones getting out of the water with mask on and regs in.

Bill

 

[Hatul]

A couple of years ago, here in Seattle, a fellow died when he fell off some rocks he was walking on. The water there is only about ten feet deep, but our viz is often low, and his buddy couldn't FIND him until it was too late.

I NEVER walk into or out of the water on a shore dive without my BC fully inflated, and without having checked to be sure that my regs are working. I don't necessarily go in with my reg in my mouth, but I do in surf (and out as well). I also keep my reg in my mouth until I am ON the boat deck, even though I get some funny looks for it.

One of the most unnecessary ways to die diving is to have problems on entry or exit.

Most of my diving here is shore diving and with the waves you have to use careful techniques to enter and exit the water. But the Lake Ontario shore is calm so they may have become complacent. But I can't understand why both of them would run into problems at the same time. I could see one of them losing her footing and falling into the water, but the husband also had a problem and was in trouble.

 

[Ayisha]

Here is an article and an audio/video interview with a Toronto police officer:

http://www.citytv.com/toronto/cityn...-pulled-from-waters-near-etobicoke-yacht-club

There's more in the video, but here's the article:

Woman pulled from waters near Etobicoke Yacht Club

04/13/2012 | CityNews.ca staff

The scene of a dramatic water rescue near the near Etobicoke Yacht Club on Friday April 13, 2012.

Video

A 57-year-old woman has been pulled from the waters of Lake Ontario near the Etobicoke Yacht Club by a Good Samaritan after an apparent diving mishap.
Witnesses said the woman was testing new diving equipment with her husband when something went wrong.
Another diver, who only gave the first name Elliot, rushed into the waters to assist. He pulled the panicked husband to shore before retrieving one of his own tanks and diving to find the woman, who was submerged.
"I saw a panicked gentleman and I went and rushed into the water and pulled (him) out," he said. "A female was supposed to be with him….I proceeded to get a small tank and paddled out there and grabbed the body and (brought) it to shore and performed CPR."
Two other Good Samaritans assisted in the rescue effort, with one calling 911.
Members of the Toronto police marine unit received a call around 1:18 p.m.
The woman didn’t have any vital signs when paramedics arrived and her rescuer described her condition as "lifeless."
She is currently listed in critical condition.
“From our understanding she was with her husband and I guess she was trying some new gear in the water," Const. Tony Vella said. "She fell into the water and as a result she was submerged in the water for a period of time.”
Police are interviewing a group of divers who were in the area at the time of the incident.

An investigation is ongoing.

 

[t4e]

I was trying to figure out the depth and distance from shore. It sounded like it was in very shallow water and they must have been wearing drysuits with the water temp being 43F.

not necessarily, we dove in Lake Ontario when water temp was 35F with a 2 piece 7mm



they're not letting out a lot of information so far

 

[Stoo]

The son of the victim has just posted on our local forum and on FB that his Mother was removed from life support late yesterday, and passed away as a result of her injuries. It is believed that she suffered a heart attack.

I had the pleasure of meeting her last year in Tobermory. She was about my age, but I think fairly new to diving. I liked her immediately. My condolences to her family and friends.