Retired officer drowns - Alberta

[DandyDon]

Retired RCMP officer drowns during scuba diving trip southwest of Edmonton

A retired RCMP officer drowned over the weekend while scuba diving with a friend at Twin Lakes campground, southwest of Pigeon Lake.
The pair entered Twin Lake around noon Saturday and the retired officer went missing around half an hour later, RCMP spokesman Staff Sgt. Shawn LeMay said Sunday.
The man’s friend, also an RCMP officer, called for help after he failed to resurface and efforts to find him were unsuccessful, LeMay said.
Breton RCMP responded to the scene immediately and the search was conducted throughout Saturday evening with the help of a Wetaskiwin RCMP search boat, the Rocky Mountain House search and rescue team and the northern Alberta Aquatic Rescue Society dive team.
The search was called off late Saturday night, but resumed early the next morning.
Searchers discovered the man’s body in the water on Sunday, LeMay said.
“We were able to locate our friend and colleague after 4 p.m. today,” he said.
The man’s name wasn’t released. LeMay said he was in his early 60s.
RCMP haven’t yet confirmed what went wrong, but LeMay said preliminary information suggests the man encountered some “distress” while he was below the surface.
“It’s yet to be confirmed, but perhaps some kind of breathing emergency related to the equipment,” Le May said.
The officer was last posted at K Division in Edmonton and had retired recently.
The west lake is the deeper of the two lakes at the campground and a popular location for scuba diving in Alberta.
Twin Lakes is about 115 kilometres southwest of Edmonton.

 

[Nibs77]

A sad day for local divers here in Alberta. I haven't heard any of the particulars, but here is a link to the news story. When (if) I hear more I will post it here. I hope the details come out so we can learn from it. This is the lake where I fell in love with diving, so this really hits close to home.

Retired RCMP officer drowns during scuba diving trip southwest of Edmonton

Twin Lake is a busy lake for diving. There is a great divers park there, with lots to see and it is a popular lake for training. It is deep (90'+) and cold below the thermocline (36-42F). Visibility can be horrible, as the bottom is very silty. When it gets stirred up you can't see your hands in front of your face.

My thoughts are with the divers family and with the dive buddy.

 

[Crush]

This is very sad news.

Without prejudice:

We all learn proper buddy diving techniques, then we tend to let it slide as we progress.

If we all made sure that our buddies remained at our sides, and insisted that a loss of contact meant that the dive was abandoned within one minute then tragedies could be minimized.

Respectfully,

Crush

 

[nadwidny]

This is very sad news.

Without prejudice:

We all learn proper buddy diving techniques, then we tend to let it slide as we progress.

If we all made sure that our buddies remained at our sides, and insisted that a loss of contact meant that the dive was abandoned within one minute then tragedies like this could be minimized.

Respectfully,

Crush

Respectfully (or not. I don't care how you take this), but I know some details about the dive that you don't know. And I have also dove Twin a lot. If you think this can be explained as easily as your post, then you are sorely mistaken. Right now this is the time for the armchair divers to sit down and shutup.

 

[Ayisha]

Brian, aren't you still the President of the Alberta Underwater Council? Please try to keep this civil. Will the AUC be making a formal statement regarding this accident?

 

[nadwidny]

Brian, aren't you still the President of the Alberta Underwater Council?

Yes I am. Not sure what that has to do with anything.

Please try to keep this civil.

No. I won't as long as the uninformed try to toss their 2 cents in. I was being as civil as possible given the the restraints of Scubaboard vs the premature wild-assed conjecture by Crush.

Will the AUC be making a formal statement regarding this accident?

If asked. However we had some of our board members help in the search for the missing diver and we are concentrating our efforts on helping them through this difficult time, not on what we say to the media.

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

If asked. However we had some of our board members help in the search for the missing diver and we are concentrating our efforts on helping them through this difficult time, not on what we say to the media.

As a concerned scuba diver who would like to learn something from this senseless tragedy, I ask you to release a statement on Scubaboard when it is propitious to do so.

As an aside, being without a buddy never killed anyone. On the other hand being without a buddy when something else went wrong, that's killed plenty of people. It seems from the article that was posted that the buddy system broke down, however that is unlikely to be the root cause of the accident. Would love to learn more as it is made available.

 

[Crush]

No. I won't as long as the uninformed try to toss their 2 cents in. I was being as civil as possible given the the restraints of Scubaboard vs the premature wild-assed conjecture by Crush.

1. You clearly don't know what "without prejudice" means;
2. My post was a call to all divers to dive safely; and
3. Your post provides an excellent example of the word you used: ass.

If we all made sure that our buddies remained at our sides, and insisted that a loss of contact meant that the dive was abandoned within one minute then tragedies could be minimized.

Edit: I have reviewed my post and still cannot see where my post was offensive. I have concluded that the problem does not lie with me. Nevertheless I have changed my post from

...tragedies like this could be minimized

to

...tragedies could be minimized

so as to ensure that I do not torment the frail.

 

[coldwatercanada]

*bites his tongue so hard it bleeds*

 

[Tim_Barker]

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims family and the recovery team. From personal experience I know it can be difficult to get past the events. That being said, making assumptions as to the cause of the accident would be rather premature at this point.